Redemption
by xx-Forever Yours-xx
Summary: He was a soldier, a mercenary. He was not supposed to see the blood; he was not supposed to feel any guilt. After the incident at Three Mile Island, Wade Wilson awakes with no memories and no one to turn to. When he is saved by a young mutant, his life is changed forever. Could she be his redemption? Wade Wilson/DeadpoolXOC
1. Prologue: Tattered Pasts

**A/N: Hello! This is my first Fanfiction so please don't be too hard on me :) Sorry if the characters seem OOC, I tried my best **

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes. _

* * *

**Prologue: A Tattered Past**

A lone girl sat at the back of the class with music blaring in her ears. That was the only way she would be able to drown out her thoughts, her emotions, and most importantly, the voices. It had all started when that pathetic excuse for a doctor had injected her with what she had called 'vaccinations' back at the base she was trying so hard to bury into the depths of her mind. It felt so real, the voices, as if there truly was someone – or something – talking to her. She had thought she had gone insane. Ever since she had left the team, the voices had grown louder, calling her, questioning her actions. She ignored it most of the time but then it would creep up on her when she was asleep, showing itself in a corporal form by way of nightmares. She must be going insane. She knew they were here for her. She had seen the all-too familiar black van in the school parking lot when she was walking to class. Two years down the road and it still seemed apparent that she would not be able to shake them off her back. Reluctantly, she pulled her headphones off her head and shoved them in her bag. Her teachers never bothered about her anymore, so long as she produced the grades they wanted. Looking at her watch, she knew she could not wait anymore. If she were to leave only when the teacher was done droning, there was no doubt that she would not be able to get to her next class in the other block. It was simply too far away. Yes, her plan was better than sitting here waiting to be picked off. She laid her head on her desk, putting up a facade. She had 1 hour to convince her teacher and peers that she was not well and get out of the school.

Half an hour later, she was walking pitifully slowly to her car in the lot. She thanked the Heavens that she had parked at the opposite parking lot in the morning. They would not realise her departure, not that soon anyway. She quickly put the keys in the lock and yanked the car door open. Sliding in, she quickly locked all the doors and started the ignition. The car jolted to life. Within seconds, Emily Blackburn was blazing down the road, leaving her school and possibly her life behind her.

* * *

It did not take long before the van showed up behind her. As the distance between them slowly grew smaller, Emily focused slightly causing the van to slow to a crawl before stopping completely. She allowed herself a small smile before diverting her attention back to the road. A black man in a cowboy hat suddenly appeared in front of her. Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she gently nudged the accelerator, itching for more speed just to prove her point. The gap between them quickly shrunk as Emily shot forward. Then, at the very last second, the man vanished in a puff of smoke, millimetres away from becoming collateral damage on the tar. Emily smirked. She did not need to check to know that the man had returned to his own vehicle. It had been in expectancy of the very same situation that had driven her to tint all the windows black. That was the flaw of teleporters - they simply _had_ to know where they were going. Moments ticked by before with a heavy sigh, Emily spotted the van appear once more behind her. Her powers had worn off when she got too far away from it and they had taken no delay in going to all means to catch up with her.

Two gunshots and a lot of screeching later, Emily had jerked her car to a thankfully safe stop at the side of the road. With a resounding sigh, she stepped out of her vehicle and leaned against it, staring at the van with pure hatred in her eyes. It slowed to a stop before the doors slowly swung open.

The katana-wielder was the first one out, grinning as usual.

"I'm not going back Wade. You know what that place did to me."

"Aww, what didn't you like about it Em? You gotta admit that you absolutely _loved_ living in a crammed space with 7 guys going around killing people right? I mean, what's not to love?"

"You know you can't beat me Wade, you and the whole lot of you. I'll burn you all down to the ground if I have to."

Emily deliberately raised her voice a decibel when she reached "whole lot of you" just to ensure that the group of men still in the van could hear her.

"Cranky Em, just the way I like it."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"We aren't here to fight you Emily. Stryker just wants you to _reconsider_ your decision." John murmured as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"Why can't you people get it? I _hate_ it! I hate killing! It makes me sick! Why can't you all just accept that I hate that wretched place and get on with your lives already?!"

"And all this proclaimed hate about killing from the person who just threatened to burn us all down to the ground. You're kinda shooting yourself in the foot here Em". Wade chided her, shaking his head dramatically.

"Hey brat, you best come with us quietly or I'll just have to make you." Victor almost cooed as he stepped out of the van.

Emily knew he was itching for a chase. He was a predator, he was programmed to chase and hunt down his prey. "Going quietly" was simply "not fun enough".

"Nice to see you too, Victor."

Emily sighed as she was once again greeted with the sight of her old team. Wade, the mercenary that just would not shut up, Victor, the feral that enjoyed "playing with his food", James, the only person Emily felt could relate to her hatred for killing, Chris, the silent electropath, Fred, the strong and invulnerable one, Zero, Stryker's loyal attack dog and John, the fairly sympathetic teleporter that she almost ran down just a few moments before.

Emily turned to James and gave him a pleading look.

"You understand don't you? You never liked it either."

Victor sauntered forward.

"Enough of this. Are you coming or am I going to have to make you."

Emily turned to face him, sending him a glare that could have been lethal.

"Correction Vicky, it's '_try_ to make me'."

Wade let out a short laugh as the tension in the little segment of the road grew to an all-time high. Victor let out a feral growl before lunging forward. Almost lazily, Emily swung her hand sideways as she upped the air resistance, sending Victor flying out of sight. Zero was next to try his hand at hitting her, failing miserably when she once again toggled the air resistance, sending both him and his bullets joining Victor off in the distance. A puff of smoke appeared behind her as John ported and grabbed her. Unfazed, Emily gave him a swift elbow to the gut which rewarded her with a loud groan of pain from John before she swung around and gave him a twist kick to the face, upping the force as she did so. As foot connected with jaw, Emily was rewarded with a satisfying crunch as John staggered backwards and fell to the ground.

Fred decided it was his turn to try and take her down and charged forward. There was no going around for the invulnerable man as Emily focused and turned up the gravity forcing him on the ground.

James and Wade were up next with Chris providing backup with a handgun. The bullets and Chris were dealt with easily enough with a few swings of her hand while James required a few good hits to the gut before he was out. With only one man standing, Wade drew his blades and lunged forward. Emily focused on his hands and upped the friction. It did not take long to force him to disarm himself.

"Oww! No fair Em! You didn't try to burn off the others' hands! And here I thought you liked me."

"I'm tired of this." Emily declared before she closed her eyes and focused. The effect was instantaneous; everyone immediately fell on their faces, unable to fight the all-powerful force of gravity. Especially gravity that was more than 10 times its usual force.

"Not this again! Oh come on! It's been like 2 years Em! Couldn't you have come up with something new?"

Emily rolled her eyes as she started back to her car. The door of the van swung open ominously, stopping Emily in her tracks. She turned around slowly, sighing.

"Blackburn."

"Stryker."

"You know you never belonged here. You're a mutant, a very powerful one at that. Come back with us and we'll ensure that you'll be rewarded handsomely. After all, how are you going to take care of your sister without money? Surely you would do it for her?"

"You know something Stryker? The money thing was exhausted a long time ago. It isn't going to work anymore."

"Your sister gets off school two hours from now doesn't she? How would she like a visit?"

"Go to hell."

Emily focused on the van before it crumpled and crushed itself into a giant ball of scrap metal. Then without bothering to look back, Emily walked back to her car, toggled the magnetism to lift it off the ground before getting in and disappearing down the road.

* * *

The door burst open as Emily ran inside on a mission. She raced to her room in record time, throwing all her belongings into a luggage before running over to her sister's room and repeating the process. Dragging both luggage down the stairs and into the garage, Emily glanced at the clock on the wall. 1pm. She had an hour to get everything into the back of the car and rush down to her sister's school. Dumping the baggage in the garage, Emily spun back around and pulled out yet another suitcase before beginning her frenzy of throwing all the items in the house into the bag.

1.45pm. Emily was blazing down the road with four bags sliding about in the trunk of the car. She was starting to panic. If they found out that her sister was a - She could not phantom what they would do to her. No, she would not allow this. Her sister was all she had left. Emily choked back a sob as tears threatened to overflow. This was all her fault. She should never have accepted that deal. But then again, knowing Stryker, she doubted that it would have made a difference.

* * *

The school bell rang just as Emily pulled up on the curb. She scanned the area for signs of danger before getting out of the car. She stared at the main gate, looking for the little girl that meant so much to her. It was only when the familiar face of her sister appeared that Emily exhaled the breath she had not realised she was holding. Her sister's eyes lit up when she spotted her and immediately made a quick dash toward her.

"Hey sis, I'm sorry but we're going to have to leave again. They found us."

"Oh… … Okay."

Emily could see the hidden despair in her sister's eyes. She was 12 years old - 6 years her junior - she did not deserve this life. She knew her sister had grown to like the little town and to be honest, Emily did too. Giving her younger sister a swift hug and a kiss to the forehead, the two quickly got into the car, leaving their lives behind them.

* * *

It had been almost a week since the Blackburn sisters had left their comfortable little home. Their disappearance from the town had spread gossip amongst their friends and teachers but everyone knew the sisters were odd. It was later assumed that the sisters were not coming back and just as their appearance had been a great mystery, their disappearance was labelled as so and the town returned to its usual state.

* * *

Emily awoke with a start, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She had to admit that as much as she liked the car, it was definitely not a favourable place to sleep. Stretching, Emily looked behind her at the sleeping form of her sister. She was so peaceful in her sleep. Emily supposed that it was in dreams and only in dreams that one could escape the cruel grasps of reality. But then again, there were nightmares. Emily let out a soft sigh. She remembered the day she first left the cursed team.

_"Hey sis!"_

_"You're back!"_

_Her little sister was overjoyed to see her and immediately ran over and pulled her into a hug. Emily smiled for the first time in a long while. It killed her to know she had to leave her sister. Since their parents died in the car crash, they had been inter-dependent. They didn't have anyone else left._

_"Listen to me, I did something very wrong by joining that team. They are going to send people after me, bad people. I can't risk you being with me, it's too dangerous."_

_Her sister looked up at her in shock._

_"What - what do you mean? Please don't leave me... I'll - I'll come with you. I'm - I'm not scared of bad people. Just-just don't leave me, please."_

_Her voice cracked on the last word. Emily looked into her sister's eyes as tears welled up and threatened to overflow. She felt crushed. Of course she did not want to leave. But if her old team was going to hunt her down like Stryker promised, then she would be putting her sister in danger. While she believed that James, Chris and John had almost zero possibility of hurting her (and probably Wade too as strange as that thought seemed), she knew that Stryker had plenty of mindless minions. There was Zero and Fred and of course there was ... Victor. The man was an animal. Actually, that would have been an understatement. Victor would gladly rip her sister into shreds if Stryker let go of the leash. The idea scared her, almost as much as the idea of leaving her sister behind. As she looked at her sister, shaking as the tears began to fall, Emily knew she would not allow this. She was not going to let this come between them. Stryker already knew she had a sister. Leaving her would not keep her safe. After all, where would she go? Emily bent over her sister and embraced her. _

"_I'm not going to leave you. But you must promise me that if I ever fail to protect us, if I ever fail to keep us safe, you will run. You will run and not look back. You will go to the police. You will never try to find me again. If anyone asks, you never knew me and unless I return to you, you will never tell anyone about me. You never had a sister. Do you understand?" _

"_But – but, I — I…"_

"_Promise me!"_

_Without saying another word, her sister nodded before hugging her again. They had given up their lives on that day and had been on the run ever since. _

Her sister's groan pulled her out of her reverie. Emily turned and stared at her, worried that she had woken her. When her sister simply turned over, Emily sighed in relief. She ran a hand through her long chocolate-brown hair before gently opening the car door and stepping out in the morning breeze. The sun was just beginning to rise. Emily looked around. She had eventually given in to her fatigue and had parked on an isolated stretch of road sometime after midnight just a few hours before. The place was deserted. She would need to drive to a nearby town or settlement to get food. She sighed and let the gentle rays of the morning sun warm her. She did not even realise that her sister had came out of the car and settled next to her. The pair simply sat in a comfortable silence as they watched the sun rise. Emily was the first to break the silence.

"Remember that promise you made me when we first left?"

"Yeah..."

Emily gave her a sad smile.

"It still stands you know? You'll run right?"

Her sister nodded reluctantly.

"If anything happens, will I ever see you again?"

Emily shot her a bitter smile before caressing her sister's cheek.

"I'll find you, when I'm able to."

_If I'm able to_, Emily corrected mentally. She was fairly convinced that if Stryker managed to catch her, it would be next to impossible to escape again. The pair sat silently for a few more moments before they got into the car and drove off.

* * *

[Does anyone have a visual on the target?]

Stryker's voice rang from the ear piece as the team took their positions.

[Does anyone have a visual on the target?!]

[No, Sir.]

[Nope.]

[Nothing, Sir.]

[No visual, Sir.]

[Not here, Sir.]

[No, Sir.]

The line had gone silent before one final voice spoke.

[Sir, I have a visual on the target. She's heading in the direction of an abandoned settlement.]

[Good. Move in.]

* * *

Emily had driven in the direction of what had looked like a settlement. What she had not expected - but had picked up as she got closer to it - however, was that it was abandoned.

Emily slowed down as she drove through the streets. If they were lucky, they might be able to find some food in a store. The area was still relatively clean and Emily figured that the settlement had only recently been abandoned. After about 20 minutes of eerie silence, Emily heard something that scared her more than the silence - a vehicle. The muscles in Emily's body immediately tensed as the sound grew louder. She moved slowly, hoping that they would not hear her. When she came near to the exit of the town, she jammed the accelerator down with all her strength, removed the friction and air resistance and shot forward at lightning speed. It came as no surprise then that the people in the van heard her and immediately gave chase. As the distance grew, a puff of smoke appeared at the back of the car as John warped. Emily put the friction back on as she slammed the brakes down. John flew forward, smashing into the ground before rolling. Emily started the engine again but it would not start - it was stalling. She jammed the accelerator down again but to no avail. The van pulled over in front of the car almost sluggishly, mocking her. Emily turned around and pulled her sister over to the front seat. She slurred over her words.

"If anything happens, I'll remove the friction and air resistance and hit the car forward. You remember how to steer?"

Her sister nodded quickly.

"Take care of yourself. I love you."

With that, Emily stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut.

* * *

Emily leaned casually against her car, a habit of hers to mask her inevitable fear. Inside the car, her sister was desperately trying to start the car in hopes that Emily would not have to fight. It was futile.

"Sorry we took so long to catch up with you Blackburn. You see, we had to pick someone up along the way."

Stryker announced as he got out of the vehicle. Emily's heart clenched. Stryker never came out first. He would never risk his own life.

"What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand?"

The rest of the team were starting to get off the van. When the last one, James, came out, he did not shut the door. Emily could feel the pounding of her heart in her chest as the fear of the unknown gripped her.

"Emily, I would like you to meet my son, Jason." Stryker announced as James took his position behind him. Wade was silent for once.

After what felt like an eternity, a little boy who looked to be about 13 or 14 stepped out of the van. He had mismatched eyes and a gaze that reminded her of a machine.

"Attack."

Stryker ordered as everyone else lunged towards Emily. She flung most of them off using air resistance but they simply repeatedly got back up and lunged again. It took a while but Emily soon realised that their purpose was not to take her down but to distract her while Jason - probably - worked whatever voojoo it was that he was capable of.

Stryker leaned down to his son before whispering in his ear, "Make me proud."

It must have been some signal because Jason's eyes widened and stared at Emily as she continued to fling her attackers off.

Then everything disappeared. Emily was home again, with her sister and her parents. She was happy again; she was a teenager once more, without a whole world of problems on her shoulders. The vision faded as Emily snapped back into reality. Realisation hit her like a blow to the stomach - she would not be winning this fight. Instinctively, she turned around and slammed the car with all her might, upping the force and removing the friction and air resistance. It shot forward, disappearing down the road. She then turned back to face her enemies, resigned to her fate.

* * *

The car had jerked forward. Her sister had lost. The little girl suddenly felt as if a boulder had been dropped on her as the tears immediately welled up. The car was flying forward while she struggled to control it at that speed. The tears were starting to fall now, forming little streams as they made their way down her face. She never realised it before. She had known that losing her sister was a possibility but she never really considered that it would come true. After about an hour, a town was coming into view. The little girl looked behind her as if willing the familiar form of her sister to appear, smiling, telling her that everything would be alright. Then as if it were a slap to her face, the girl realised the car slowing before slowly, painfully coming to a stop.

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	2. Chapter 1: Faith

**A/N: Hello! Thank you to my two reviewers Said the Silence and the british epicface. I'm glad you guys liked it. :) Also, thank you to Mrs. Marie Woods-Winchester, HauntedMonster and Said the Silence again who put this story on alert and/or added it to their favourites as well as anyone else who has read the story. Thank you for the support! :) **

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Faith**

The island was a smoking heap of debris. The distinct sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance. Under a pile of rubble that had absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the reactor that it was once upon a time, a hand moved, balling itself into a fist. A mangled body pulled itself out of the stone as yet another explosion sounded off somewhere on the island. It hurt, it hurt a lot. His body ached and his head felt as if someone had played football with it. He flexed a muscle, experimenting with the severity of his injuries. It burned and the man winced slightly. He looked around himself at the unfamiliar surroundings. In fact, he realised that nothing really was familiar to him. Not the way his body moved, not the way his skin felt, not anything really. He searched his mind for recognition as he looked around. Then a scene manifested itself before him.

_He was strapped to an operating table. He was cold, alone. Nurses and doctors bustled around him, offering no comfort or support. Then they hurt him; hurt him more than he had thought a person capable of enduring. He struggled against the restraints but his body was weak from the drugs and disease. Every cell in his body screamed for the sweet prospect of death as the pain sliced through him, worse than any blade he ever wield - at least he was quick. Then everything had gone to hell as he blacked into the welcoming safety of the unconscious._

The man snapped his eyes back open as an overwhelming instinct took over - run. Before he knew what he was doing or where he was going, the man took off in a random direction. He had to get out of this place.

The man had taken off sprinting. Before long, he reached the shore yet he did not slow down. Taking in a large gulp of air and bending his knees, he lunged forward, slipping into the waves and disappearing under the currents.

* * *

The doors swung open as the paramedics wheeled the casualty in. She was not moving anymore and the stretcher was soaked with blood.

"Doctor Munroe!"

Said doctor whipped her head around before quickly directing them to an operating theatre. The woman was hardly breathing anymore when the nurses recorded her vitals. The doctor did not need to ask to know that the woman would die; it was evident now. She looked around at the faces of her colleagues, nodding slightly. Then she positioned her hands on the sides of the casualty's head before closing her eyes. There was a sharp intake of breath from the patient as she began to writhe. The nurses around her helped to hold her down as her struggles grew stronger. The wounds were starting to close as the woman continued to thrash. Doctor Munroe sighed slightly as she felt the woman gradually calm down, her breathing growing steady. After a few more moments, the doctor opened her eyes and removed her hands from the woman's head.

"Clean her up and have her admitted."

Upon receiving instruction, the nurses around her hurried to do as they were told before one of them, standing near the back, suddenly spoke up.

"Doctor, how - how did you do that?"

Doctor Munroe turned to face the nurse before recognising her as the one that had only been recently transferred over. She gave her a quick smile.

"About that, call it my gift if you will."

* * *

The freezing water had hit him like knives stabbing his body. It felt like hours since the man had taken the plunge into the seemingly endless ocean. The fatigue was starting to set in now and he could hardly tell where he was going anymore. Something at the back of the man's mind wondered why hypothermia had yet to set in. He shook it off as his movements grew increasingly sluggish. After what seemed like an eternity, land started coming into view and the man repressed the urge to sigh in relief. He willed himself to go faster as the little piece of land slowly grew larger and larger to reveal the city of Harrisburg.

* * *

Her shift was finally over. The doctor made haste to change out of her attire and clock out before heading to the car park to fetch her car. The sun had set, leaving the eerie glow of the moon in its place. The doctor was used to it though. To her, the moon offered familiarity and an uncanny sense of comfort. It somehow offered a strange light in all the darkness that surrounded her. The doctor sighed as the car hummed to life, the events of the day replaying themselves in her head. The incident today had only served to remind her exactly how different she was. She was a freak trying so very hard to fit into a normal world, a being that belonged in an exhibit. The doctor sighed as she shook her head to clear her thoughts. The prospect of going home was becoming dull now - she would not be able to sleep anyway. Making up her mind, the doctor pushed the accelerator down as she headed to the port.

* * *

The man finally broke the surface as he scanned the area around him. The commotion back at the island had somehow served as a convenient distraction to the law enforcers and border security was low. The man dragged himself up the shore as the repercussion of all the swimming hit him in one swift blow. He had figured that he was actually quite physically fit since he had not found the sprinting and swimming all that exhausting. Not all that exhausting until he got back on land and gravity had him in its grasp again anyway. The man's vision was starting to blur as he climbed up the slight incline to get off the beach. His limbs felt like they had turned into jelly as his movements became more and more sluggish. The blackness was slowly becoming more and more welcoming as it lulled him into its warm embrace. Collapsing in a heap on the ground, the man quickly gave into the darkness.

* * *

The doctor pulled up when she got to the parking lot. Turning off the engine, she slipped out of the car and turned on the alarm. Taking in a deep breath, she let the sea breeze fill her lungs, clearing out her mind and her thoughts. Stretching her limbs, the doctor made her way to the port, enjoying the soft caress of the breeze as it played with her hair and stroked her skin. This was the one place where she felt at home, where her frustrations could not catch up with her and she could feel like she fit in. As she got closer to the port, the doctor noticed something on the ground that vaguely resembled a man. Narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see better in the darkness, she moved towards him, increasing her pace. When it became clear that the heap on the ground was indeed a man, the doctor ran towards him. Kneeling down beside him, she quickly checked the man's pulse. When she was confident that the man was indeed alive, she released a breath she had not realised she was holding before shaking the man in an attempt to wake him up. When it was obvious that it would not work, she decided to try to move the man and see if she could get him into a better lighted spot to better access the state he was in. When she managed to move the man near a lamp post, the doctor gasped. She had not realised it before because of the darkness but the man was...deformed. His skin was covered in what appeared to be surgical scars and markings and his eyelids had been removed, giving him the ability to continuously stare despite being unconscious. When she got over her initial shock, the doctor started to wonder what had happened to the man to land him in such a predicament. Moving to get into a better position, the doctor closed her eyes and let her hands hover slightly over the man's head. His cells were different, forcefully modified yet never truly right in the first place. _Mutant._ The doctor opened her eyes. Her realization ruled out the option of having her new patient receive medical attention at a hospital. It must have been by an awesome stroke of luck that the first person to find him happened to be a doctor that was a mutant then.

"You are one lucky guy aren't you? You better not try to kill me when you wake up."

Doctor Munroe mumbled to the man before bracing herself to move him to her car.

* * *

His mind spun as something tugged on its edges, pulling him away from the safety of the unconscious. Odd flashbacks were playing themselves in his head and a voice echoed, repeating itself like a broken cassette player.

_"He'll be the ultimate weapon, Deadpool."_

He finally broke through the surface, returning to the land of the living. The man snapped his head around, scanning his surroundings. He had been at the beach, he had collapsed hadn't he? The man attempted to get up only to realise he had been strapped to the bed.

"Seriously? What the hell? Nobody traps Wade Wilson and - Wait what?"

The name had rolled off his tongue, natural and instinctive. So was that his name then? Wade Wilson? The man - Wade - quickly recovered from the revelation before continuing in his struggle against the restraints.

"Damn damn damn damn..."

The binds were not letting up. Wade growled in frustration before slumping back in the bed. He sighed as he closed his eyes while chanting "Let me out" like a mantra. Then he felt an odd sensation as he seemingly went out of existence. The world disappeared for what felt like an eternity but was really just a few seconds as Wade found himself falling back into the bed.

"Oww that hurt..."

He mumbled to himself as he raised one hand up to cradle his head. He felt like he had been tased. Then he froze as he stared in awe at the hand that had been strapped down only moments before. He looked around at his now free limbs as a million questions burst into his still throbbing head. He looked back at his hand and noticed that there was a wound on the back of it where an IV - that he had made an effort not to look at - had been attached. The wound was slowly closing itself, leaving no evidence behind.

"Cooooool!"

Wade swooned before hopping off the bed, still unsure as to what exactly happened.

He took a few tentative steps forward toward the only exit of the room. Behind him, the various monitors that had been strapped to him in one way or another started beeping in response to his absence. Wade turned around before dashing to the machines and hitting them in an effort to turn off the alarm.

"Shut up shut up shut up..."

The machine visibly protested against the treatment as the beeping got louder. Outside, someone moved. Wade moved to stand next to the door, ready to ambush whoever came through it. The knob slowly turned as Wade pounced. The intruder was a girl that looked to be in her early twenties. As Wade tackled her to the floor, the girl let out a startled scream. Wade put his arm against her neck as a threat.

"Who are you?"

The girl quickly recovered from her shock before rolling her eyes at the statement.

"I'm the one that saved you from your impending doom on the beach."

The statement confused him slightly as his grip wavered. The girl seized the opportunity and put her hand to his temple. Wade was about to protest against the action when he felt the adrenaline and anger leave him, leaving an odd calm behind.

"Now, can you please get off me?"

Wade felt a little too happy to oblige as he scrambled off the girl. She sat up and rubbed her neck where a bruise was already starting to form. It disappeared as Wade blinked, unbelieving.

"What did you do to me?"

Wade asked, the question coming out sounding oddly happy even to him.

"I found you on the beach. You were suffering from exhaustion and starvation. You were wet so I guess you had also been swimming and that gave you a slight case of hypothermia. So I put you on an IV drip and -"

"I mean why did you strap me to the bed and why am I so frigging calm?"

Wade did his best to sound angry and intimidating but all he managed was a little-girl-tantrum-like tone.

"Oh that. You are a mutant."

She stated plainly before pausing as if she found the statement sufficient. When Wade continued to look confused, she sighed and continued.

"I couldn't tell what you were capable of, your cells and your body as a whole really had been messed up. So, for the sake of my own safety, I strapped you down. As for why you are so calm, the body, no matter how screwed up like yours, is very much controlled by biological means like hormones. All I had to do was manipulate the levels and you can be as un-angry as I want."

She ended off by shooting him a smug smile. Wade felt his jaw drop as the girl sighed once more.

"I'm a mutant, a bio-kinetic."

The girl stated as she got back to her feet.

"I'm not going to strap you down anymore since you don't like it but I really suggest that you get more rest. You can leave if you want to though; you're not my prisoner."

Wade stared at the girl, feeling his anger genuinely fading.

"My name is Wade Wilson…I think. What's yours?"

The girl stopped on her way to the door, turning back to look at him. She smiled slightly before replying.

"Faith, my name is Faith Munroe."

* * *

A man in a military uniform slowly trudged along the seemingly endless stretch of road. He did not know where he was going or why he was even there. All he knew was that he had to keep walking. The familiar sound of tire against gravel echoed through the silent forest. The colonel did not bother looking up, he had to keep walking.

"Colonel William Stryker!"

A voice called out and the man turned instinctively upon hearing his name. Something in the man's mind snapped as he stopped in his tracks.

"You are wanted for questioning."

The colonel simply nodded as he was led to the back of the army vehicle before climbing in.

Not too far away from the stretch of road, a teenage girl stood watching. As she looked at the men getting into the truck, the girl inched slightly forward, eager.

"Stryker."

The ignition was started and the van hummed to life, moving away from the girl at an almost tempting pace.

"Well this should be fun."

The girl let a crooked smile spread across her face before she sauntered forward.

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 2: Weapons Training

**A/N: Hello! Thank you to my two reviewers SpiritOfTheWolf96 and UKJ. I'm glad you guys liked it. :) Also, thank you to UKJ, sora0995, BooksFan101 and Spirited Mare who put this story on alert and/or added it to their favourites as well as anyone who has taken time out to read this. Thank you for the support! :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Weapons Training**

_"The cancer has spread..."_

_"You're like the walking dead Wilson, it will only be a matter of time before your body fails you and you die..."_

_"He will be the ultimate weapon..."_

_"I would like to offer you a deal..."_

_"Deadpool."_

Wade awoke with a start. It was a recurring nightmare. Or rather, it was a playback of the life he did not remember he had. Deadpool, who was that? The name had been pulled out of the abyss of lost memories more than once and Wade was starting to contemplate the significance of it. He looked around him. He was in his room. The familiar red curtains were thrown about by the breeze from the open window as the limited light flitting through allowed him to see the outline of the plant Faith had put there in an attempt to just fill the space. It had been about a week since he had decided to stay with the doctor and she was currently his only friend. He spent his time in her home and tried to adjust himself into the world while she went to the hospital to work. He often made remarks about how she being a bio-kinetic could simply use her powers and should not need to go to medical school and whatnot. She would simply roll her eyes and ignore him. The two were also trying to find out exactly what Wade was capable of. They had been trying all sorts of ways to try and trigger his 'powers' but had failed so far. Wade was starting to doubt if he even was a mutant but Faith was confident.

_"You would not have survived the exertion and trauma otherwise."_ She had said.

Life since he had woken up in the heap back on the island had been rough. While he would not doubt that Faith's help and presence had made the process easier, it was still a very bad experience. Oh yes and he had found out that someone had messed up, no, screwed up his face. Faith had promised to help regenerate whatever she could but for now, Wade was stuck bald, with eyes that kept on staring, a mouth that had been sewed together and allowed to heal over - which was later ripped back open - and scars everywhere.

To be completely honest, Wade thought he looked like a zombie, something right out of the apocalypse, just like the _walking dead_... … Wade shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was confident he would not be getting any sleep so he might as well make himself useful.

* * *

"WADE WINSTON WILSON! WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU DONE?!"

The calm of the morning was shredded to a million, minuscule pieces by Faith's fury.

"Well...oh come on, it's not that bad. I mean it could have been so much worse. It's just a little damage and - and I found out some things! Did you know I could heal? Like seriously have my injuries totally seal themselves back up and all. I had actually suspected that when I woke up but I had not been too sure. Oh oh and I can teleport! I found out when the fridge was going to drop on me! I just warped out of the way! I don't really know how to control that very well though... And and... …okay fine, I'm sorry. Don't be mad okay? You look like you could kill a mountain lion or something, not that I doubt your ability to with you being bio-kinetic and all. Oh come on! Don't look at me like that. I'll clean up! I'll even lift the fridge back up! Just don't be mad okay? Per-lease..."

Faith stood by the archway to the ruined kitchen and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself down.

"Faith? Faith? Oh come on babe! Don't do this to me..."

"Don't call me that and - and ARGH!"

"Faith? Where are you going? Are you mad? Faith!"

* * *

Two hours later, the pair was out on the backyard. Wade had cleaned up the kitchen - and lifted the fridge back up - and with Faith's brief rage blown over, she had had him go out to the backyard to see what else they might be able to discover.

"Most mutants don't have more than one ability, sometimes two, but based on how your cells and genes had been manipulated, I'm guessing you don't fall in the norm."

Wade simply stood opposite her and bobbed his head.

"So now I'm going to attack you and let's see if it'll trigger anything. Most powers activate when the mutant's safety is being threatened."

Wade simply continued to bob his head. Having made sure he knew what they were doing, Faith's eyes narrowed by just the smallest degree as she focused. The ground shook as vines grew from the earth and entwined around Wade.

"Hey! I thought you were a -"

"So long as it's living, I can control it."

"So you can control me?!"

"No. I can control your biology but not your mind. I would be able to control your _body_ entirely but that is just far, far, far too tiring."

The vines around Wade slowly loosened and released him. Wade looked up at Faith quizzically.

"This isn't going to work. I guess even your body knows that I won't hurt you, _too badly anyway_."

The smirk that had been growing on Wade's face when he heard "I won't hurt you" quickly grew into a grin.

"Aww. Let's all be honest here. Why in the world would anyone want to hurt me? I'm too nice for anyone's good."

Faith rolled her eyes before going back into the house.

"Hey! Hey!"

Wade started calling as he made his own way to the house. There was no reply.

"Faith! Come here babe!"

Still there was no reply. Then there was a loud, high-pitched scream.

"Faith? Faith!"

The only response Wade received was growling coming from the house. Wade dashed forward but before he got to the door, he was met with a pair of green eyes that were too high up to be human. The owner growled before slowly stepping forward.

* * *

A lone girl stood watching her prey run. She was a hunter and as sadistic as it seemed, she tended to enjoy the chase more than the actual kill.

"What do you want from me?!"

Her quarry screamed back at her as he continued in his effort to increase the space between them. It was futile.

"You will pay for what you have done. You harmed a friend of mine and now you will receive your judgement."

The girl smiled as the man fell. She leaped down before her victim and gave him a cold, cruel smile before stepping forward. A few moments later, a loud, shrill scream echoed through the woods.

* * *

The beast snapped at him, gnashing its teeth. Wade slowly stepped away from it. Instinctively, the animal came out of the house and onto the yard. Now that it was out in the open, Wade thought that it appeared to be a wolf, a wolf that looked to be the size of a horse. What looked to be blood had caked the rusty brown fur on its muzzle and was dripping off slowly and sickeningly, staining the fresh, green grass below. Time seemed to stop as the two seemingly stared at each other. Then the wolf lunged, heading straight for him. Wade warped out of the way and reappeared at the other side of the yard. The wolf looked up, annoyed at its failed attempt before dashing towards Wade. He warped again, ending up right behind the wolf as it crashed into the fence around the boundary of the yard. It turned and growled.

"Hey! I'm actually getting quite good at this whole teleporting stuff. You just need to focus a little on where you wanna go and -"

The beast had taken yet another lunge at him and Wade warped onto its back.

"Come on horsey! Gimme your best shot!"

The wolf snarled as it started bucking to get Wade off. Then the oddest thing happened. Wade was grabbing onto his steed rather desperately as he fervently wished for some sort of weapon. His body responded with a sharp pain at the back of both his hands as blades that he had no idea how could have fit extended from them, the gleaming silver pulling memories from the depths of his mind. Something in Wade's mind snapped as the giant wolf changed from being a deadly, savage beast to just another target.

"Give me your best shot."

Wade repeated, all signs of the somewhat playful tone he had used just moments before erased.

Wade flipped off the wolf and landed back on the ground with a soft thud. The beast swiped at him but he back flipped out of the way. As the creature stumbled forward slightly, it was Wade's turn to attack as he bolted forward and executed a spin with his blades facing out, slashing the beast's face. The wolf yelped, hopping back and away from him. Wade simply dashed forward and continued his assault, sliding under the wolf as it made a blind swipe at him and slicing one of its legs. It immediately fell as Wade warped onto its back and stabbed it near the spine. The wolf let out a loud, somewhat strangled sound that sounded almost like a scream as it collapsed on the ground, whining. Wade executed a lithe flip off the fallen beast, landing easily on the ground. He had left the large beast alive deliberately; it would pay for what it did.

"Now, what did you do to my friend?"

Wade stood down to the wolf's eye level as it continued whining. Wade pointed a blade to the wolf's neck the same way he would to threaten a human. The wolf continued to whine as it looked at him. Wade sighed as he looked up at the house. Standing back up, he teleported to the backdoor before pushing the door open, stepping inside and withdrawing the blades back into his arms. The adrenaline was fading now and Wade was starting to worry.

"Faith?"

For a house that was supposed to have been rummaged by a savage animal, the place looked neat and normal, very much the way how it had looked before they had went out to the yard. Wade walked around, half expecting to see Faith - hopefully alive - with every turn he made. He went through the whole house - twice - but did not find Faith. Sighing, Wade made his way back outside to where he had left the wolf. Pushing the door open, Wade stopped, shock written all over his face. The wolf was gone. On closer inspection, the ground where it had lain remained stained with its blood. But there was no trail, as if it had simply disappeared.

The sound of the grass rustling behind him pulled Wade out of his reverie as he swung around, a drawn blade inches away from severing the intruder's jugular. Faith put up her hands as a symbol of surrender as she instinctively made her skin indestructible.

"Whoa! Chill buddy! It's just me."

"What happened?"

Wade grumbled his tone uncharacteristically serious.

"Err... Could you get your sword out of my face...?"

Wade blinked a few times before shaking his head as the blade pulled back into his arm.

"Sorry."

Faith smiled slightly before biting her bottom lip, her face an expression of guilt.

"So… …"

"Are you hurt?"

"No no, err… … you see… … Okay fine. To be totally honest with you, that was all a ruse."

"What?"

"I'm bio-kinetic Wade; I can change my cells and my system. I was the wolf and you totally know how to kill someone. So, now we know that there are blades in your arms and you know how to use swords like some samurai. So problem solved."

Wade's expression changed into something similar to the one he had during the fight and Faith swallowed.

"That was not funny! I was honestly worried and what was with the blood?!"

"I'm sorry! There was no other way to make you believe that you were in serious threat!"

Faith put up her hands in surrender as she attempted to calm the man down. Now that she knew what he was capable of – and experienced it first-hand – she definitely did not want to get on his bad side.

"How could you do that – ARGHH!"

Wade growled as he started back to the house.

"Come on! I'll forgive you for the whole kitchen thing!"

Wade suddenly spun around to face her, a smile plastered on his face.

"So we're even?"

"What?"

"Okay! Thanks!"

And with that, Wade teleported off the yard, leaving Faith standing alone, jaw-dropped.

* * *

The girl watched from her perch as the show unfolded before her. The other mutant would have to be removed for her plan to come to fruition. As she watched the pair interact out on the yard, she instinctively balled her hand into a fist, fury building up inside her as something tugged at the edges of her consciousness. The girl flinched spontaneously as a voice squawked from the earpiece she had on her.

[What are you doing?!]

[I know my orders. You don't have to remind me.]

[Well then attack! Or do you need me to send him down as well?]

The girl was about to respond when the odd tugging returned, her hand refusing to pull the trigger on the rifle even as the girl stood in plain sight. She watched, finger frozen over the trigger as the girl walked slowly back to the house and went out of range.

[What did you do?!]

[I — I]

The girl growled in frustration as she flinched again.

[Return to base.]

[Yes sir.]

* * *

As night fell over the city, Wade retreated to his room after the pair had cleaned up the mess they had made earlier in the day. He was exhausted. He had had almost no sleep the night before and the day's activities were particularly vigorous. After he forced himself to clean up, he stumbled over to the bed and fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Faith walked slowly out of the washroom, a towel in hand as she dried her bath-tousled brown hair. She heard a low grumble from Wade's room as she passed it and after a quick peek, confirmed that he had fallen asleep. Closing the door gingerly, Faith retreated back to her own room as she turned her computer on. As the machine hummed to life, she opened a file and entered the password before waiting for it to load. When the document was opened, Faith clicked on where she had left off and continued typing, her fingers flying over the keyboard. After a few moments, she paused and turned to her right, unlocking and pulling open a drawer. Sighing, she reached her hand out to the single metal item the drawer stored and caressed it with her fingers. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she closed the drawer and turned back to the computer to continue with her work.

Unbeknown to her, a lone girl watched her from the darkness outside.

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	4. Chapter 3: Shady Pasts

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 3: Shady Pasts**

_A little girl stood before a burning car, her screams echoing through the silent night. Sirens could be heard in the distance but no, they were too far away. The girl crumbled before the burning vehicle, her tears now falling freely. She subconsciously registered arms going around her in an age-old gesture of comfort. The little girl slowly quieted down as she ran out of tears to shed. Her eyes were hurting but she would not close them. Around her, firemen were running about, working to put out the flames yet she paid no heed to them. Her eyes, unblinking, were fixated on the charred hand hanging from the driver's side of the car. Not too far away, hiding in the cover of the trees, the devil watched her, a slight smile on his face as he retreated into the depths of the forest._

* * *

The almost-rhythmic sound of the rain hitting the roof drew Wade out of the sweet embrace of sleep. He continued to lie in bed and contented himself with listening to the droplets splatter on the roof. A few moments passed before Wade let out a sigh before climbing out of bed.

The house was empty; Faith was working. Wade wandered around rather aimlessly in the dark - he had not bothered turning on the lights - after getting something to eat. He had previously planned to head out to the yard for training but the weather had changed his mind for him. Settling down at the kitchen tabletop, Wade fiddled around with a fork before he caught a glimpse of white light on his hand. He instinctively ducked behind the table as a single bullet shattered the glass window and sliced the spot where his neck had been just moments before. Panting as his muscles tensed and the adrenaline kicked in, Wade warped to the upstairs bedroom that faced the backyard where the shot had come. The silhouette of a man was moving out of the trees and toward the house. That was the thing about snipers - you either hit your target on your first shot or risk never hitting them at all.

Wade smiled as a sharp pain cut the skin at the back of his hands. Bidding his time, Wade waited until his assailant was halfway across the yard before he teleported above him and lunged straight for his neck. What he had not expected was to be grabbed halfway through his ambush and thrown across the yard.

"Do you actually believe that that would work Wilson? You're just like how John had been, predictable!"

Wade dug his blades into the muddy ground halfway through and back flipped, landing back on his feet.

"Who are you?!"

"Oh no Wadey! Did you really lose your memory? Stryker cleaned you up good. He should have done a better job shutting you up though."

The man grinned as he sauntered forward toward him.

"Victor Creed. Does that ring any bells?"

The man asked as he continued forward, his nails - or rather claws - growing.

* * *

The beeping of the monitors rang in Faith's ears even as she walked down the silent corridor. She sighed as she gently massaged her temples, willing the headache to go away. It was a quirk with the job; she heard the sound so often that it was pretty much stuck in her head. Yet as irritating as it was, Faith constantly reminded herself that the sound symbolized life and with that, hope. She sub-consciously reached for the cool metal hanging from the chain she had tucked under her shirt. Memories burst through floodgates as the despair descended upon her once more. _There is no hope. Not for me, and not for her. _As the doctor sunk deeper into her thoughts, she felt a light tap on the shoulder. Instinctively, she spun and pinned the intruder to the wall, her right arm going up to aim for the neck. Fortunately, for her and even more fortunately for the nurse, Faith recognised her _before_ she moved to collapse her trachea. Stopping mid-attack, she pulled away from the frozen nurse, an apology slipping from her lips. Before the nurse could open her mouth to say anything, the doctor was gone.

* * *

"Who are you? Who's Stryker?"

"Stryker is your saviour, your maker. If he had not helped you, you would be a dead man now. You're his weapon Wade and now he wants you back."

"I don't belong to anyone so you can tell him to go to hell."

"Really? Somehow I think I'm about to prove you wrong."

The man - Victor - grinned before moving forward slowly. Picking up the pace, his gait quickly turned into a run before he sprinted and then launched himself at Wade.

Acting on instinct, Wade teleported behind him and made a quick swipe at Victor which he responded to by turning around and attempting an attack. Wade teleported before Victor could land the blow as he reappeared to Victor's right, giving him a quick spin-kick and making a cut in his arm before teleporting again and repeating the process. Ten times Victor failed to respond in time to Wade's attacks but one time he did and before Wade knew what exactly happened, he was thrown in the direction of the house. Digging his blades into the ground like before, Wade once again flipped and landed on his feet. As he looked up at Victor, a satisfied grin grew on his face as he admired his handiwork; Victor was covered in cuts and bruises. But his grin disappeared as he watched the wounds heal themselves.

"How do you think you are able to heal Wade? You're nothing but a weapon, a pool of powers stolen from other mutants."

"So you're part of this science experiment too? I guess I should thank you then but I think I'll pass."

Victor growled in response before launching at Wade again. Wade dodged the attack before striking and the two fell into a complicated game of strike-and-dodge. Wade was first to break away as he teleported and stabbed Victor at the spine. Victor growled before falling forward onto the ground, sending mud flying everywhere. As Victor healed, Wade took the time to interrogate him.

"You said my powers come from other mutants. What do you mean? Who is this Stryker and what does he have to do with me? Why did you come here?"

Wade put his blade to Victor's neck while the other simply chuckled in response.

"You are a fool Wilson. All the powers you have and all the mutants that they came from, you were the one to capture them one by one, put them in cells to rot and let Stryker do whatever he wants with them. So don't look at me with those judgemental eyes because you are just as guilty as all the rest of us if not more! Stryker saved you from yourself you ungrateful brat! You belong to Stryker and it's time to go home! Or what did you think you were going to do? Spend your whole life with that girl? You're a mercenary Wilson. You kill people and you don't give a damn. You're a killer, a weapon for hire."

Victor spat, emphasizing each and every syllable as if he were speaking to a five-year-old. Wade stayed silent as everything seemingly clicked into place. Why he was able to fight well; why he viewed the wolf as a target; why he knew to avoid the rifle shot. The rush of information baffled him slightly as he tried to accept the idea that he had spent all his life ending the lives of others. But what bothered him more was that he did not find the thought disturbing, at all. Victor took advantage of his captor's mild distraction to lunge and knock him to the side before taking off into the woods. Wade recovered quickly but did not bother giving chase.

* * *

When Faith had arrived home, she had found her roommate nestled on the couch, staring blankly at the television which was airing some random thriller movie. The hero was being chased by a killer clad in black who was waving a blood-stained butcher knife. The loud silence quickly grew uncomfortable and Faith opened her mouth to speak. But before any words came out, Wade's monotonous voice rang through the room.

"That's me you know."

"What?"

"The guy with the knife that's going around killing random people, that's me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I kill people. I kill people and I don't give a bloody damn."

"Wade..."

The man fell silent as he continued to stare blankly at the screen, watching as the killer cornered his victim in an alley before slowly slitting his throat.

* * *

The sky was pitch-black outside by the time Faith finally decided to wait Wade out of his mood. As much as she found the man annoying in all his never-ending talking, she had to admit that it was unnerving to see him acting the way he was. She had tried everything. Everything referring of course to poking, prodding and even mock-punching the man to try and get some form of response out of him but no, Wade had been as solid as a rock. The only acknowledgment of her efforts had come in the form of a short glare she received when she threatened to destroy all the waffles in the house. Yes yes, of _all_ the things that could get Wade Wilson's attention, it would be the destruction of his damned _waffles_. Faith rolled her eyes in response to the one-sided conversation she had going on in her head. _Fine, if he is going to ignore me and wallow in whatever depression it is that he decided to jump into, then it's not my problem. Wade can't stay like that long anyway, it's not his style._ Faith decided before pulling back her sheets and sliding in, she had shift tomorrow. Outside, she heard the television turn off and smiled before drifting into unconsciousness.

* * *

The man trotted slowly through the lush shrubbery as he rapidly waved his phone around in an attempt to get a signal. When he finally got it, he quickly typed in the numbers and waited impatiently for the call to go through. He had been wandering about for the entire day after getting beaten, stabbed and sliced and he was tired, cold and hungry. After what felt like an eternity, a familiar voice squeaked from the Bluetooth.

[Status?]

[Unharmed. Currently in the forest behind the target's location. Requesting evac.]

[Weapon XII is in the area. She will assist you.]

[Copy.]

[Mission status?]

[Target has amnesia. He did not recognise Creed. Actual severity was not determined. He does not remember Stryker or the procedure either. I fed him the usual story.]

[Copy. Evac ETA is 30 minutes.]

[Copy that.]

The operator on the other side cut the line as the man sighed before plopping down on the ground to settle in for a long wait. After a few moments, the man settled on counting the number of leaves on the tree he had bunked under. When he reached two hundred and fifty-three, he heard a faint rustling not far away from him and could not help breaking into a smile.

"Get up."

"Hello to you too."

"I told Stryker I did not need back-up. You just ended up giving me more trouble."

"Well I'm sorry if I was apparently sent down here because _I_ decided not to take out the girl when she was walking around right there in front of _me_, a perfectly clear shot I might add, for more than 30 seconds and _I_ apparently pissed Stryker off!"

The girl growled lowly in response and the man felt the skin on the back of his calves and thighs burn.

"Yeah yeah! Burn me! That would totally solve everything!"

"Let's just go."

The girl hissed as she turned to leave. The man grinned before clambering to his feet and following her, whistling as he walked. After a few moments of silence, the girl suddenly spoke up.

"So... how did the mission go?"

Her counterpart grinned before smirking.

"Let's just say Creed won't be happy."

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	5. Chapter 4: Bleed & Heal

**A/N: Hello all! So very very sorry for disappearing for so long! Yes guys, I am NOT dead. I have unfortunately, NOT completed the story but I am a good way through and have made a deal with myself to put more effort into it. I have edited and re-uploaded all the previous chapters to iron out any grammatical errors as well as adding some small details here and there to clear any misconceptions. Feel free to point out any other mistakes I may have missed though :)**

**Thank you to UKJ and nope for the reviews.**

**To UKJ: About the last two people, you will be seeing them soon :) As for the question, thanks for asking because it has given me some ideas and I will try to address that later :)**

**To nope: I will stand by the side that I DID not copy anything from that story and I do not think that listing someone as a favourite author would give any right for you to copy either. However, if I have offended the author I now apologise. I have gone back and went through the prologue chapter and have edited it to better explain exactly why Emily was having a headache. If you read the rest of the story or even the rest of the chapter itself, you would know that our plotlines are COMPLETELY different. However, thank you still for the notice and I will pay more attention to write with as little similarity to other stories as I can.**

**Thank you to all who added this story to their favourites and/or followed this story: KatFaceRawr, Tankpuppets, Lee Mayfair, Louise3873, AssassinaAquila and Luna-Bee.**

**Thank you all for the support and sorry for the long wait :) I hope to complete this story soon and will attempt to update this story on a weekly basis as best as I can. If I finish it before then, I will update more frequently :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 4: Bleed & Heal**

_The little girl sat quietly in the office, eyes glued to the ground as she sub-consciously played with her fingers. The door was gingerly opened as the officer entered, walking loudly to inform her of his presence. The girl did not bother looking up as she continued to play with her fingers._

_**She turned into the alley as she looked to find somewhere to spend the night. Footsteps could be heard behind her as the girl hastened her steps.**_

_The officer slowly approached her before kneeling down to her level and placing a hopefully-comforting hand on her shoulder. He felt the girl tense but she did not move away. She continued to play with her fingers, staring fixatedly at the crimson liquid that had dried on them._

_**She felt the adrenaline kick in as the footsteps behind her got faster. It did not take long for the man to catch up with her, a feral look on his face. As the distance between them closed, the man lunged and pinned her to the ground. The girl struggled but to no avail.**_

_**"Shhh... I promise I won't hurt you, so long as you behave."**_

_**The girl could feel the sting in her eyes as the tears pooled up and threatened to overflow. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt the man move to kiss her hungrily on the neck.**_

_"What's your name?"_

_The girl continued to stare blankly at her hands, slowly balling them into fists when she heard the officer's question._

_"I don't have a name."_

_The officer frowned slightly before taking down a note on a piece of paper._

_"Okay... Do you have any family, someone you are usually with?"_

_The girl suddenly looked up at the officer, shooting him a death glare. The officer instinctively withdrew his hand and shrunk back slightly in response. Recovering quickly from the mild shock, the officer cleared his throat as he opened his mouth to speak again. He never did._

_"I have no family. I've been alone for a long time now."_

_The officer took down another note before continuing._

_"Will you be okay if I ask you some questions about the attack?"_

_The girl looked over at him, slightly less hostile than she was before as she nodded._

_**The man moved slightly, his hand reaching down to unbuckle his belt. The girl tried to resist the urge to scream, listening to the whimpering in the background. With a shock she realised that the sound was coming from her and as reality started to catch up with her, something in the girl's head snapped. **_**No. I won't give him that. I won't give him that satisfaction. I won't let him.**_** The girl's eyes snapped open as she reached a free hand around her, feeling around for something - anything - that she could use. She felt an odd sensation in her arm as she came up empty. Being left with no other option, the girl pulled her hand back as she prepared to hit her assailant. As she swung her hand as hard as she could and fist connected with gut, she was shocked to hear a loud grunt of pain and the man rolling off of her. Pulling back her hand, the girl's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the blood that now covered her hand - or what she thought was her hand. The appendage had turned into something that resembled a blade made of biological material - much like horns or spikes. Pulling back away from the man, the girl scrambled to her feet as she was met with a deathly glare.**_

_"The man attacked me, he tried to rape me. I fought against him but he was too strong... I was desperate so I reached around me and felt something sharp. I had no choice so I used that and stabbed him near the stomach. He got off me and I got up and ran. Apparently the injury I gave him was not that serious and he got up and chased me. You know the rest."_

_The girl concluded before looking down to her hands again. There was no way in hell that she would give the officer the full details of what happened. This was all he needed to know anyway._

_"Thank you. I know this must be hard on you. We will be bringing you to a hospital for a medical check-up before moving you to a safe house until we find this guy."_

_"I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital."_

_The girl ran a hand over her abdomen instinctively as she turned to stare at the officer._

_"It's good that you feel okay but I still suggest we get you checked and cleaned up."_

_Heaving a sigh, the girl nodded._

* * *

Wade awoke with a start, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Climbing out of bed, he thought back to the past day's events before shaking his head. So what if he used to kill people for a living? He must have had his own motives for whatever it was that he did. But since he could not remember anything, he figured he should just stop killing himself over it. What is done is done and what is over is over. Sighing, Wade trudged over to the window and pulled the curtains back. The glaring sunlight burned his eyes slightly but they quickly adjusted. Feeling a smile creep onto his face, Wade turned back around as he headed outside, whistling.

* * *

_The little girl stared into the eyes of the caretaker as she was led into a room. The elderly woman slowly crouched down to her level before giving her a gentle smile._

_"You'll be staying here until that bad man is found and captured. So don't worry, you'll be safe here and if you need anything, just call."_

_The woman patted the girl's head before ushering her into the room and leaving, shutting the door quietly behind her. The girl waited for the woman's footsteps to fade into the distance before slowly sliding down against the wall, tears she had repressed for so long slowly falling down her cheeks._

* * *

Faith sat quietly at her table, her mind wandering to a place and time far away from her own. Three raps on her door pulled her out of her reverie as the petite nurse she had attacked the day before slowly pushed it open.

"Can I come in?"

The nurse asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

"Yeah sure."

The nurse smiled as she entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"Is something the matter?"

"I wanted to talk to you, about yesterday."

"Yeah... I'm sorry. It's just that -"

"It's okay, I forgive you. I just wanted to tell you something."

The nurse sighed softly before continuing.

"You're a good doctor and you may be a mutant but you're still human. People err and we all have our down days. So I hope you solved it."

"What?"

"Whatever it was that was bothering you yesterday, I hope you solved it."

The doctor gave her a sad smile before asking,

"How do you solve your past?"

The nurse smiled.

"You accept it."

* * *

_The girl walked silently, her footsteps echoing through the empty corridor. In her head, she envisioned the situation she was in to have come out of a movie, where the hero was being led to the execution ground and mourners stood by the side, acting like they actually cared._

_The police officer that had been leading her turned a corner and beckoned her to follow. As they stopped in front of a door, he stood down._

_"If you see that man that attacked you later, just point him out. Don't worry, he can't see you from the other side."_

_The little girl nodded as they entered the room, her eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. Two other officers were already inside. They nodded to their colleague as they turned their attention to the line of men standing behind the pane of glass. Sighing, the girl looked up and quickly identified her attacker. He had a bandage over where she had stabbed him and he seemed somewhat jumpy. The girl stood there in silence as she memorized his features. He had dark, shaggy hair and a round face. His face was oily and his eyes were constantly darting in different directions. There was a scar on his left arm that stretched from his elbow to his wrist. He had a dark complexion. The girl closed her eyes as she etched the image into her mind. When she opened them again, she spoke._

_"I don't know. He's not here."_

_The officers did their best to hide their disappointment. They were partially successful._

_"Well if that's the case then we'll be sending you back to the safe house."_

_The girl nodded as she made her way to the door, her expression betraying nothing._

_As she marched alongside the officers she turned up her hearing, increasing their sensitivity. She listened to the room she had just exited and tuned out her immediate surroundings. She could hear voices and she strained to listen._

_"I don't understand. The man practically admitted to being responsible for the attack."_

_"I don't know what happened but she's our only surviving witness. The rest of his victims never survived the attack..."_

_The girl subconsciously put her hand to her abdomen, memories fighting for her attention. She beat them back._

_"And we don't have enough evidence to charge the bastard."_

_"Do you think we should try to have her identify him again?"_

_"I don't know... The girl didn't seem very stable just now..."_

_"So we're going to have to let him go?!"_

_"We don't have a choice."_

_"Damn..."_

_The girl pulled herself back as the officer shook her lightly, a quizzical look on his face. They were in front of the vehicle that was to bring her back to the safe house; she had frozen in front of the car. The unspoken question in the officer's eyes was shot down by a steely look as she scrambled into the car. The man shrugged slightly as he made his way to the driver's seat. The ride was short as the girl slowly formulated a plan, drawing a map of the route from the station to the safe house in her head. When she arrived and the footsteps had faded, she turned to the window and removed the bars that she had laboured at for the past month. Opening the window and appreciating the light breeze that flowed through, the girl leaped out._

* * *

Wade stared at the reflection in the mirror. He could not remember what he had looked like before the island but he knew for a definite fact that it was not like this. The man did not have self esteem issues. Heck, if he did, it was due to having too high a self esteem. So why did he feel this way? His hands were stained with the blood of people he did not know for a reason he could not remember. His face was deformed by a person named Stryker apparently for a reason he could not remember. He had hunted down mutants and taken their powers for a reason he could not remember.

_There sure seems like I have a lot of reasons I can't remember._

Sighing he stared at the face looking back at him, the cold eyes boring a hole into his soul. That was if he had a soul. _Ahh Faith, you should seriously come home now. I need you to threaten the good of all waffle-kind._

Sighing, Wade turned away from the mirror. As he walked, he turned his right hand back, a long, silver blade sliding out before hitting the mirror at its dead center, cracking and then shattering it. The shards fell away to the ground, each one reflecting a part of the figure retreating out of the door.

* * *

_The sky was falling into darkness as the sun retreated down the horizon to give way to the moon. Only problem was, there was no moon that night. A figure darted through the darkness, entirely at home in it and yet extremely out of place. A man slowly walked out from the station, a slight limp to his gait. The figure smiled as her eyes followed the man's path. It took 1 hour and 37 minutes for the man to be alone. He had turned into an alley and the figure followed. About halfway through the figure called out to the man._

_"You never imagined that one day you would be the one who was followed now did you?"_

_The man froze as he turned around. When he saw his pursuer, he relaxed, a smile pulling at his lips._

_"Oh, hello sugar. Are you here for round two? How's that wound healing up?"_

_"Perfectly."_

_The girl replied, ignoring the first half of the question._

_"What?"_

_"My wound, it's healed up perfectly. Not even a scar."_

_"Why-"_

_"People like you should really learn something."_

_The girl looked up him, her gaze reflecting the steely hatred she felt. A smile tugged lightly on her lips as she spoke once more. It was not friendly._

_"Don't hurt what you can't kill."_

_The whole month of training had all been leading up to this moment. The girl moved towards the man as he started to back away. Anyone else watching the scene would have found it hilarious that a grown man was backing away from a girl that was less than half his age. But then again, little girls did not have eyes that could glow yellow to match the devil himself. The girl watched as the man's face reflected his horror before slowly pulling her lips apart, baring her now razor-sharp teeth._

_"What-what are you?"_

_The girl smiled as she eased into a lunging position._

_"I'm just another victim."_

_The man spun in a final attempt to escape but it was futile as his head hit the ground 6.25 seconds later. The girl leaned down to her quarry as he struggled to get up - it was useless._

_"Let's have some fun shall we?"_

* * *

Wade sat staring out at the ocean as the Sun's rays played across the waves, painting them an awesome crimson. He smiled. He mentally made a deal with himself to do this more often. The sand grinded together as a pair of feet made its way over to where Wade was seated. The man smiled as the sound got louder. Faith settled beside him, stretching her tired legs out in front of her. They did not turn to look at each other; they simply stared out at the setting Sun.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. I just wanted to come."

"Bad day?"

"Quite the contrary actually."

Wade smiled slightly as the pair lapsed into a comfortable silence, watching the Sun slowly hide behind the clouds. After a few moments, Wade broke the silence.

"Why did you save me?"

The question had come out of nowhere but it had been bouncing around in his head for awhile and he found the timing fairly appropriate.

"Because everyone deserves a second chance."

"But you must have suspected that I must have been some evil or dangerous guy to be so messed up."

"So? Just because someone may have made a couple of bad choices in their lives doesn't mean the rest of the world has the right to condemn them. To me, you were someone that needed help and I helped you."

"Do you regret it? I mean if that guy - Victor - wasn't lying, I'm a killer, a guy that goes around killing innocent people for the sake of a couple of thousand dollars."

Faith actually laughed and Wade resisted the urge to glare. He was trying to be serious for once! Instead, he simply continued to watch the Sun, finding unexpected comfort in the spectacle.

"Wade, we all have our own pasts and we all have our own demons. In your case, you don't even know what they are. So maybe you used to kill people for money but look at yourself now. You aren't a killer Wade, not anymore. You're a good person."

For the first time that evening, Wade turned and stared straight at Faith. Honestly, he had not expected that answer. Maybe a small part of him actually believed that Faith would have blamed him, that she would have said something along the lines of "You're the worst person I've ever met". He realised now that the sentiment was foolish. As the pair bathed in the golden rays of the setting Sun, Wade suddenly felt that the girl sitting next to him was indeed very beautiful. Her brown hair was tinted with a shade of gold by the Sun as emerald eyes gazed out at the scene before her. Her lips were curved slightly upward and he suddenly had the urge to kiss her. Sighing, Wade propped himself up with his arms before clambering to his feet. Teasing was second nature to him but what he felt at that point was way beyond teasing.

"Where are you-"

Without a backward glance, Wade walked forward slowly before catapulting himself into the cold water.

* * *

_"Jeffrey O'Conner, aged 37, has been found dead in an alley along Hale Square. Preliminary reports show that he had been attacked and killed by some sort of animal. Police are currently investigating the case and are appealing to any witnesses who may have saw the attack. The victim is suspected to be involved in several rape-and-murder cases. If you have any information, please dial this number..."_

_The girl sat sullenly in front of the television. She heard the caregiver, Mrs Grace, calling for her. Rearranging her features, she turned to look at the door just as it opened. Mrs Grace smiled warmly at her. She was in her late forties and her hair was starting to gray. The girl thought it made her look motherly. The woman was flanked by a couple._

_"There she is! She's very quiet but I assure you that she's a good kid. If you're willing to give her a little time and love, I'm confident she'll open up to you."_

_The foreign woman smiled at the caregiver before walking over to the girl, kneeling down to her level and offering her a warm smile. She was met with a blank stare._

_"What's your name darling?"_

_"I don't have a name."_

_"Oh you poor thing. Mrs Grace here was just telling me about you and how you ended up here. I promise you that nothing like that will ever happen to you again. So, how would you like to go home with me?"_

_"Home?"_

_"Yes, home. We'll take care of you."_

_The woman smiled before getting back to her feet and moving back to her husband._

_"You sure about this?"_

_"Yes Ben. She's just like me when I was younger. I want to help her Ben."_

_Her husband, Ben, cracked a smile before nodding. Mrs Grace beamed before moving over to the girl who was quietly taking it all in._

_"Hey, you're finally going to a new home! Be a good girl okay?"_

_Without waiting for a reply she knew she was not going to receive anyway, Mrs Grace left the room, followed closely by the man to deal with the formalities. The woman moved over to the girl and kneeled down beside her._

_"I know what you've been through. I was like you, once. It'll be over soon, the pain, the loneliness, the tears. It'll all go away. I promise."_

_The woman leaned over the girl and gave her a quick hug. When she pulled back, she thought she had seen grief in the girl's eyes. It was gone before she could be sure though. At that moment, she knew that she had succeeded in chipping off at least a chink of the girl's armour. She smiled. That day, the little girl went home with Mr and Mrs Johnson._

* * *

"What was that for?!"

"Don't you sometimes have the urge to just spontaneously jump into freezing water just for the sake of it? Come on! Everyone feels that way sometimes."

"No Wade, no they don't."

"You know, you don't actually need to give me a ride back. Teleporter! Or did you just want to spend half an hour alone in a car with me being soaking wet?"

Wade offered suggestively. He was rewarded with a slap to his (bare) back.

"Oh! Hold it buddy! Are we progressing here? Don't you think you're getting too touchy? Ahh, Faith! I never knew you felt that way about me!"

Faith's jaw dropped as she stared wide-eyed at her passenger.

"You know what? You can go teleport back on your own..."

"Oh so now you want me to leave? I thought you liked me!"

"Okay then I'll leave and you can drive back."

"Really? What an honour it is then to be driving your car while I am completely wet and have the air-conditioning blast at my bare chest. But wait, do I know how to drive? Hey! Do you know if I know how to drive?"

"GOSH! DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?!"

"Oh you want me to keep quiet? Are you sure? Because last time I did not talk, you were all over -"

A hand clamped over his mouth as Faith started the car.

"You sure you can drive with one hand? I don't want to die! Won't you miss me?"

Wade's muffled voice continued to ring through the car as Faith put more force into her hold. Wade continued speaking in unintelligible sounds, then he teleported to the back of the car.

"That is no way to treat someone! We're in a free country aren't we? So I have the right to speak. Anyway, just a side-note but jumping into the sea has really made me hungry. Could we stop and get some waffles on the way? You know, waffles, the thing you threatened to obliterate when I did not want to talk to you? Oh oh or we could get some pancakes too! Or cheese! Now what cheese treat do I like? Cheese chips? Cheese balls? Cheese burger? Are you listening to me?"

Faith sighed as she cut off her hearing, leaving her in a blessed silence. She started the car and manoeuvred it out of the parking lot before mentally changing her route to include the closest waffle stand.

* * *

_The sky was dark. Rain was falling; every drop that hit the ground rang in her ears. She was 16 now. They had taken him away. The men in those cursed suits. It was always them. They had taken away her parents and her sister and now they had taken away her new father. Why did he have to go fight that damned war? Beside her, her mother lay broken on the muddy ground, tears cascading down her cheeks as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Emerald eyes stared at the group of men in suits that stood opposite from them. She finally had a home. They had taken it away. The men's faces betrayed no emotion as they saluted the fallen Benjamin Johnson in unison. The gesture meant nothing to the girl as her own tears escaped and blended in with the falling rain. They would pay. As the crowd slowly dispersed, she watched her father's commanding officer kneel down beside her mother and put a comforting hand over her shoulder. A thousand memories filled the girl's mind, the flaming car, the burnt flesh, her sister's hand over her shoulders. As she watched her mother crumble, her walls tugged at her again. She would turn it off, her thoughts, her emotions. She would get her revenge. Turning around, Faith slowly walked out of the cemetery, her emerald eyes clouded by pure hatred._

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	6. Chapter 5: Magic & Voodoo

**A/N: Hello! As promised, I will update this weekly so this is this week's chapter :) Thank you to all who have read the last chapter and/or have been following this story so far :) I hope you guys like it and your support is very much appreciated. :)**

**Thank you to those who followed the story: BlackMoonWhiteSky, Marvgrrl81, stepantrof imovic and Amor Mio. :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Magic & Voodoo**

"Syrup!"

"Butter!"

"Syrup!"

"Butter!"

"Syrup!"

"Butter! Syrup is too sweet!"

"Syrup! Butter is too fattening! It's going to accumulate in your arteries and you're going to get cardiovascular disease and die because of a heart attack! Surely as a doctor you must know that."

Wade stood opposite the island at the centre of the kitchen as he waved the syrup bottle around, pointing it like a weapon at Faith with every rebuttal. Faith stood opposite him, a ladle held firmly in her hand as she spoke. The utensil served as a weapon - she used it to whack Wade's hand away every time he attempted to abandon the argument and simply drown their supper in syrup. In all truth, Faith liked syrup. The way the thick, sticky liquid seemingly melted in her mouth or how it reminded her of the honey she used to have with her toast. In fact, this gave syrup on waffles quite an interesting spot in her heart. Something tugged at her memory and she pushed it away. _No, butter is better._ She went silent for a moment when she saw Wade's mouth twitch slightly, curving into a smile.

Before she knew what was happening, Wade had teleported behind her, tossing a pancake in her direction. It hit the bull's eye, right at the back of her head as she turned in shock. Her attacker was grinning from ear-to-ear even as she deftly sent another pancake flying towards him. He teleported and the projectile naturally missed.

"You can't hit me girl! I'm too fast for you!"

Wade appeared behind her once more, tossing a waffle at her. But she was ready this time as she dodged it in a lithe motion before swinging back around and sending a cube of butter into the man's shocked face. He had clearly not expected to miss. Faith laughed and Wade quickly joined in. The food-fight quickly escalated into an all-out war as they started throwing anything and everything in the kitchen that they could get their hands on.

After the pancakes were stuck to the walls, the waffles scattered on the ground and butter and syrup have coated the cupboards and floor, the pair slumped on a surprisingly clean spot on the kitchen floor and leaned against the cupboards, laughing like there was no tomorrow. They were happy like that, free with no restraints. As Faith took a moment to catch her breath, she noticed Wade had stopped and was staring at her with an almost predatory glint in his eyes. She stopped immediately as the temperature in the room suddenly felt 20 degrees higher. There was a certain tension and awkwardness floating about in the air and the sudden silence had grown thick enough to cut through with a knife. She shifted uncomfortably, overcome by the urge to leave but feeling almost _hopeful_ of what could emerge from the situation. She slapped herself mentally. She attempted to will herself to move, to leave, to do _something_ but the connection between her brain and the rest of her body seemed to have been cut as she froze on the spot. _So much for being a bio-kinetic_. While Faith waged a war with herself, Wade took the opportunity to lean closer. Faith froze and at the very last minute, closed her eyes. Then she felt it. A savage beast gnawing on the bars of its cage and at that one moment, the walls fell and the beast got loose. A thousand memories flooded her mind as a far more important task claimed her attention.

_Her sister stood with her by their car. The Sun was setting over the horizon. Reaching into her pocket, her sister fished out a military dog tag and handed it to her._

_"Take it. Let it remind you that I'll always be with you."_

The image shattered when a group of men came to take her sister away, the mindless followers of the colonel in a suit. She felt a sharp pang of hate as the scene changed.

_It was raining. Her father had a duffle bag slung over his shoulders as he hugged her and her mother goodbye. Then they had said their farewells as he left the house and joined his comrade and commanding officer on the army truck._

_The men in the suits._

The scene changed again.

_It was raining again, but here it meant something different. It meant loss and grief and more importantly, hate. Her newly widowed mother now stood before the coffin being slowly lowered into the unrelenting clutches of the grave. It had not taken long for her to crumble. He had been her only pillar, their only pillar and now they had taken him away. Opposite from them, the murderers pretended to care and saluted their fallen comrade. The gesture simply made her angrier. Her father's commanding officer even had the atrocity to come over and attempt to comfort her mother. The cursed man in the suit. She would get her revenge, she would teach them to regret their actions and beg for forgiveness before she would slit their throats. They would pay._

The beast now growled at her, chiding her for losing her eye on the ball. The carefully constructed walls that the Professor had built came crumbling down as the beast roared in rage, rage that originated from her impervious association with the enemy. He had been involved. He was just as guilty as the rest of them. He would pay. Faith snapped her eyes open. Only a few seconds had passed but everything had changed. She bolted upright before Wade could do anything, muttering a quick apology before fleeing from the house. The beast growled. _No. Why did you leave him?! You were supposed to kill him! Avenge them!_ She shook her head as she slammed the front door open and bolted into the night.

* * *

There had been laughter emanating from the house. The girl watched and listened as it died down. Her hands instinctively clenched into fists at the sudden silence. It went on for a short moment before the girl burst out from the house, almost running in the opposite direction. After recovering from the initial shock and grinning from the awesome stroke of luck, the girl put her hand to the Bluetooth on her ear and spoke quickly to her partner.

[She came out. Commence mission.]

[Copy that. I'll be at Point C. Call when you're done.]

The girl nodded unnecessarily before replying.

[Let's end this.]

Releasing the button on the device, the girl gathered her gear before heading down the fire escape in pursuit of her target.

* * *

She had no idea how far she had gone but the voice in her head had quieted some, giving her some time to herself. She slowed and turned into an alley. It was a moon-less night and it unsettled her slightly. Faith sighed, trying to regain control of herself. She scratched her head in frustration. Wade must be furious. Maybe she would apologise, give some stupid excuse for her actions. She sighed again but it was quite a while later before she got the distinctive feeling that she was being followed. There were no sounds of footsteps though and Faith attempted to shrug off her suspicions. Then a voice broke the eerie silence and she froze.

"Kim."

Her heart was palpating in her chest, thundering in her ears. Her breathing had become shallow as she dared not turn around. It was not possible.

"Kim."

Faith squeezed her eyes shut before acting on a whim and spinning around. Her eyes widened in shock and she felt her jaw drop. She managed a strangled gasp before everything went dark.

* * *

Wade paced in the kitchen, intent on etching a path in the smooth floor. He repeatedly replayed the moment in the kitchen, cursing everything from his sudden bravado to the whole world itself. The door burst open as Faith walked in. He sighed, having no idea how to react before stomping over to Faith. The angry act would be the easiest thing to pull off at the moment.

"What was that for? Look I'm sorry I tried to-"

"Leave Wade."

"But I really- What?"

"Leave."

"What do you mean? Are you that angry? Can't we all just forget that that happened and just go back to how things were or something?"

"Leave Wade. I can't take it anymore. Whatever that was, it just reminded me of how much I can't accept you. I can't live with it Wade, I can't just find out you're a killer and not do anything about it. I'm not going to call the cops but I really, really need you to leave right now."

"What? But-"

"LEAVE WADE! Go back to Stryker or something. LEAVE!"

The hurt that had risen in Wade died the moment the words left the girls mouth.

"Faith, I never told you about Stryker."

Faith froze for just a moment before rebutting but that moment had been enough.

"Who are you? Where's Faith?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm telling you to LEAVE!"

"I'll ask you again, who are you and where is Faith?!"

When no satisfactory answer was given, Wade drew the blades in his hands, a warning. The facade played by "Faith" was immediately dropped.

"Ooo, scary. You better be careful with that. You don't want to hurt your little girlfriend."

"What did you do?!"

"You should have listened Wilson. It would have saved us a heck a lot of trouble."

"What the hell are you?"

"Why don't you come and find out?"

Grinning, "Faith" spun around and disappeared out onto the street. Naturally, Wade gave chase, withdrawing his blades back into his arms. Whoever it was, he was fast, far too fast as Wade found himself teleporting to where the imposter had been just to spot her about another hundred metres away. Eventually though, the imposter stopped running and stood on the roof of an old building. It was only when Wade had teleported there and attempted to hit the fraud - and fail quite miserably - that he realised that they were no longer alone.

"Hello Wade. Remember me?"

A girl who looked to be in her late twenties stood over a figure lying on the ground. He realised with a shock that the unconscious person was Faith. He whipped his head back at the Faith standing a short distance away, mildly wondering why his head had yet to explode. The girl that had spoken smiled.

"Amnesia eh? We have a little something to fix that."

Wade drew his blades again, retreating back toward the edge of the roof.

"Who are the two of you?!"

"You have already met Voodoo over there." - "Faith" cocked her head slightly - "and as for me, you'll find out soon enough."

Voodoo smiled and fished something out from his pocket - a hair - and closed his eyes. Then he was changing. The hair on his scalp drew back and disappeared as he became bald. His eyelids pulled back and his mouth scarred. The shirt disappeared and the torso was replaced with a toned chest tattooed with surgical markings. The shorts that Faith had been wearing evolved into a pair of long, red track pants and the figure was complete with a pair of black shoes. Standing before Wade Wilson was Wade Wilson. Voodoo grinned.

"So I guess you know what I'm capable of and just so you don't try anything funny-"

Voodoo drew the blade in his right arm and with a smile still plastered on his face, clutched the blade with his left hand. Staring meaningfully at Wade, he withdrew the blade from the grip of his left hand as the sword drew blood. Wade had been confused by the entire display until he felt a sharp sting on his left hand. Glancing down at it, he was shocked to see a long gash on his palm, red liquid gushing out of it freely. Voodoo held up its twin and Wade watched in awe as both wounds closed at the exact same time. Again, he wondered why his head had yet to explode.

"So... just in case that demonstration was not clear enough," - the girl tossed a little plastic bottle at her partner and he caught it easily - " whatever happens to me happens to the person whose form I am taking. So if you want to kill your girlfriend," - Voodoo removed the stopper on the bottle and emptied its contents on his hand - "you can try to hurt me."

The last part of the statement was made by "Faith" as she cocked her head to one side.

"So, about that amnesia..." the girl started as she pulled something out of a small bag pack she was carrying. Wade took the moment and lunged fairly predictably at the girl. She would be the easier target and he was obviously not going to compromise Faith's safety.

Apparently, he was wrong.

Before he got anywhere near the girl, she swung her hand and he was flung back by an invisible force, slamming hard against the concrete. He teleported behind the girl and attempted to grab the unconscious Faith but his plan was thwarted when the girl whipped around and slammed a fist into his gut. It was inhumanly strong for her size and Wade doubled over. The girl swung around and landed a spin kick, knocking Wade to the ground. He had not expected that. Heck, he had not expected anything. He recovered quickly and attempted to retaliate but was suddenly pinned to the ground. Voodoo strolled over, sending his partner an approving glance as she handed him a syringe filled with a thick, metallic liquid Wade had no name for.

"Don't worry. This won't hurt."

"Hey, are you a guy or a girl? If you can take on either and be so in-character, then don't you think it'll affect you or something? Or are you just the greatest actor?" - Wade turned his head to face the girl - "Hey! For all you know, your partner could be some Russian double agent who is currently planning on-"

The needle pierced the skin on Wade's arm, sending a sharp pain all the way to his spine. His vision started to fog and swirl as the world spun around him. Reality started to fade as tendrils of darkness reached out to him. Only, they were not darkness. They were memories.

_It was a white picket fence kind of a life. He was the rich kid, the resident envy of the people. Then everything had changed with the divorce. His father had gotten custody of course, what with his mother's not so stable mind. After that, his father had taken to alcoholism, drowning every sorrow and memory into his drink. That was about when the beatings started. Two years later, Wade had driven his father's own blade through him and somehow, through some incredible stroke of luck - or rather, misfortune - had made a name for himself as the mercenary that never failed. He had been 16 back then and by the time he was 18, he had killed more people than 20 men put together._

_He had shut it off. The fear, the guilt and lying in its absence was a void that he filled with mindless babble that intensified with emotion. He simply channelled everything to his mouth. His techniques and skills improved rapidly and soon, he was being paid more to take out one man than most men would ever make in their lifetimes. After that of course came Stryker and the Weapon X team. More killing, more blood but never any sentiment. When the team had but scattered, he had fallen ill, very ill and with empty promises made, agreed to become Stryker's newest pet project._

The memories faded, blending themselves with those he had made recently, mending the cuts on the broken string to form a perfect timeline of his life. Consciousness was pulling at him again and he opened his eyes to find himself, quite regrettably, still sprawled on the roof. The girl smiled when she saw that he had returned to the present before slowly making her way over and crouching down beside him.

"Now do you remember who I am?"

Wade stared as memories flooded his mind, drowning him as recognition hit.

"Emily."

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	7. Chapter 6: Revelations

**A/N:Hello again! This is this week's chapter! :) Sorry for the slight delay, I've had a busy, busy week. Anyway, a good number of the questions I set up in the previous chapters will be answered in this :) On an unrelated side-note, I forgot to state in the last chapter that Wade's history in the flashback was entirely self-created XD I don't read the comics though I am a movie fan. :)**

**Thanks to Rorschach in Blue Jeans for the review :) And I'm actually really glad that you kinda hate Stryker. Haha~ I was really trying to make him as bad as possible without doing anything too drastic :)**

**Thanks to Fench-the-TARDIS, Rorschach in Blue Jeans aand angelgirl116 for putting this story on your favourites list :) As well as Fench-the- TARDIS once again for following the story :) Your support really means a lot to me :)**

**Thanks to all who have been reading/following this story :D It means a lot to me :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

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**Chapter 6: Revelations**

"Who? What? Why? How?!"

"What's wrong Wade? Did you think Stryker just let me die or leave me in a cage to rot? No, he is far too kind to have done that. Instead, he gave me purpose. He gave me revenge. After you screwed up on your mission to subdue James, partly thanks to Victor, Stryker got captured. It was all your fault! After everything he has done for us all! But no, I wouldn't let those fools take him so I did your job for you! Those men truly had no idea how pathetic they were. It was almost too easy."

"Okay you lost me at the Stryker-nice part. Em, you HATE Stryker. He threatened you with your sister! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong with her. She has turned out to be so much more."

Wade stiffened at the all-too familiar voice as he shifted against Emily's gravitational hold. Colonel William Stryker walked out from the roof access, once again having have waited until the coast was clear before he dared to show his face.

"Oh wow. If it isn't my best friend in the whole wide world."

"Boss," Voodoo deadpanned from the corner. Wade turned his head slightly to look at Voodoo. He did not seem too pleased with his "boss". Wade carefully filed that little bit of information for later use.

"Blackburn, why don't you bring the girl downstairs where she'll be safe? Voodoo is here. He won't dare to try anything."

"Yes sir."

Emily kneeled down by Faith before lifting her up bridal style, shifting her weight here and there to balance it out. Then, with a backward glance shot at both Stryker and Voodoo, she left the roof. A few moments passed before Wade felt the force leave his body and he was able to move again. Voodoo immediately moved in front of Stryker.

"So... since you totally screwed up my handsome face and tried to seal my mouth shut which is totally against all human rights anywhere around the whole wide world by the way, I seriously think that-"

"Dearest Wilson, I have a deal for you. In exchange for the safety of your friend, you are to perform a series of tasks for me."

"Well that was straightforward. So lemme think... Wait wait give me a moment... Ahh no. Do you seriously think I'm an idiot Stryker? You're telling me to believe in your trustworthiness after everything you have done to show me exactly how _untrustworthy_ you are? And now you want me to do whatever your majesty wants me to do? Are you kidding me? Hey hey how about this? I promise not to kill you and in exchange you let my friend go? How's that for a deal?"

"You can't hurt me Wilson. Never could, never will."

Wade barked a laugh before snapping back a quick retort.

"Oh but that was before you gave me all these flashy powers Stryke. A lot of things have changed."

"Ah but I'll always have something against you Wade. That's something that hasn't changed at all."

Wade almost growled drawing the swords in his hands where they came to rest by his sides. His fingers twitched, itching to stab Stryker right in the heart. At this moment, Emily returned.

"I hooked her up to the system. Here."

The girl announced before handing Stryker a ring. The man immediately slipped it on. With that accomplished, his face immediately lit up in a smug smile. He waved the ring in front of Wade and it took a great amount of self-control for him to not slice the appendage off.

"I see your taste in fashion has not improved. Is that from the fifteenth century?"

"This is not a ring Wilson. It's a monitor. You see, my men tell me that you seem to have developed a certain... ...liking for the girl." Stryker paused, pondering over his words before continuing.

"This monitor keeps track of my vital signs that are sent to a little contraption I had someone create that currently houses your friend. If that machine does not receive a constant message that I am still alive, it injects your friend with a very lethal toxin and she will die. It has been calibrated to my heartbeat pattern so only I can keep it from killing your friend. So now that that is established, how about my deal?"

Wade snickered, shaking his head in mock admiration and clapping his hands, deliberately allowing their metal extensions to scratch one another, creating a sharp screeching sound.

"Bravo Stryker bravo! You sure have an extremely wonderful way to waste your time! And resources, we must always remember the waste of resources. So, all this time you have been trying to find a way to put someone in a tube with some poison that makes sure you are still alive? Honestly, you must be the dumbest genius ever. Oh wait wait, you aren't a genius because you never make the toys yourself. So, just dumbest guy ever then."

Wade paused and turned to glare at Stryker, his face suddenly stripped of all emotion. He continued then, his voice bordering on a growl.

"What makes you think I'll listen to you just because you caught my roommate? Here's a news flash Stryker, I will kill whoever I want to kill and I will kill you regardless of whatever it is that you do to try and convince yourself that I won't. You don't own me and I don't take orders from you. It's really time to move on."

Before the last word had even left the mercenary's mouth, Wade lunged, teleporting mid-jump to arrive directly behind Stryker, his momentum being strong enough to push the startled Emily away. Wade put his right blade to Stryker's neck, pushing it just enough for it to draw blood. Stryker grinned, waving off his bodyguards.

"You are so predictable Wilson, so desperate to prove yourself to be someone you so obviously are not. Good, this entire display proves exactly how much you really care for my prisoner. Go ahead Wade, kill me. I dare you."

The blade cut deeper, inching dangerously close to the artery.

"What makes you think I won't?"

Stryker smirked, not bothering to answer his captor's question. An eternity seemingly passed on the roof as Wade sighed before slowly, reluctantly, withdrawing his blade. The moment the metal lost contact with Stryker's skin, he was pinned to the ground.

Stryker smirked; giving his signature I-know-something-you-don't face that Wade suddenly had a very strong urge to rip off - literally.

"Do you know what your greatest weakness is, Wilson? You care. No matter what you do or what you try to convince the world, you care. Sure, you can kill anyone, man, woman, child, president but once you let your walls down, once someone sneaks up close to you, you will never risk them. You're loyal that way and that has made you weak."

Emily moved to stand near Wade, cocking her head to the right slightly as she held him at bay.

"Shoot him." Stryker declared as Emily drew the revolver from the holster she had strapped to her right thigh.

"Right in the head." Emily aimed the firearm and removed the safety before loading the bullet into the barrel, her eyes betraying no emotion.

"Em... ..."

"Don't worry you won't die. This is just to shut you up during transport." Stryker stated nonchalantly.

Emily paused, staring at Wade as her eyes narrowed by just the slightest bit.

"Shoot him Blackburn!"

Emily's withdrew her trigger finger and winced.

"Damn it. This all started because of her stupid sister. Of all the people in the world-

"Ha! And you were going on and on about the horrors of loyalty! Wait- sister?"

Stryker's smirk returned to his face as he motioned to Voodoo who moved to grab the girl by the shoulders and steer her away. Wade grinned and attempted to move but unfortunately, getting a Schizophrenic breakdown is not enough to break the girl's focus.

"Hasn't your friend told you anything about her past Wilson? Or has Xavier accidentally made her lose her memory?"

"What are you talking about?!"

Stryker cleared his throat as if he were preparing for a long speech.

"Your friend is a murderer Wilson."

Wade stared in shock as the world came crashing down on him.

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"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Your friend, Kimberly Faith Blackburn is the sister of Emily Blackburn standing over there."

Stryker waved in the general direction of Emily and Voodoo over at the corner of the roof.

"This must be poetic irony." Stryker announced, chuckling softly to himself.

"You, dear Wilson was involved in turning the girl into an orphan. You remember now don't you? Zero and Creed were sent to cause the car accident that killed the sisters' parents, that same accident that caused the far stronger manifestation of both their powers. We already knew of course. The reports that had come in about the 'Witch Sisters' were overwhelming. We originally planned to capture them both but later prioritized on the older of the two. The abilities or even the possession of power of the younger one was not verified and I do not need chaff in my crop. Of course your teammates succeeded and the sisters became orphans overnight and then we appeared to be a balm to their pain by offering Emily a job on the team, a place in my research. The only option she would have had to support her sister and for the pair not to be split apart."

Stryker paused for a moment, catching his breath while Wade, through a ginormous amount of effort, stayed silent, taking it all in.

"Eventually though, she wanted to leave before the research was complete. But you should know me well enough to know that I always get my way. I had Doctor Elizabeth inject her with a certain serum, the advanced version of which is now coursing through her veins and tying the knot of loyalty she has to me. After that, no matter where she went, she was haunted by a constant command to return, an overwhelming surge of loyalty that she never knew she had. This new serum that we have however enables us to exert total control with minimal interference from her subconscious. You see Wade; I have found a way to put someone into a constant state of dream. It is in dreams that we have the least control over our actions, where we do things we normally would not even _dream_ of doing."

"So you sentenced her to an eternity of LaLa Land?" Wade questioned, a disgusted frown on his face.

"But of course, she still refuses to kill her sister. The natural instinct is too strong. But on the other hand, if she had shot her dead I would not have leverage over you. Anyway, back to your friend in the truck."

Stryker paused for a moment and Wade took the moment to turn to look at the silent pair also on the roof with them. He could almost see them from the edge of his peripheral vision. Emily had settled down on the ledge of the roof and Voodoo had sat down next to her, still assuming Faith's identity. The girl was staring at the ground, suddenly extremely calm while Voodoo was ... ...patting her on the back? As Wade watched, Voodoo fished out a syringe from a pocket before sighing, removing the cover over the needle and pushing it into Emily's skin. Stryker turned to look at Wade's distraction before speaking again.

"Ahh Voodoo, one of the better subjects I have found over the years. Unfortunately, he doesn't respond to the serum, his biology is a little too messed up -even for a mutant- to take the serum correctly. His allegiance however appears to still be by me but-"

Stryker lowered his voice and leaned down by Wade, whispering into his ear.

"I will find a way to solve the... ... problem soon."

Wade cringed away from Stryker and was about to shoot off a crude remark about Stryker and intimacy with other males before Voodoo spoke up, his voice a tad bit too upset.

"Boss, she needs to go. She's becoming unstable."

Stryker stood up, rolling his eyes in annoyance before responding.

"She will be fine. I'll have Elizabeth have a look at her later."

"But-"

"Do not question me Voodoo!"

Wade watched the commotion as Voodoo moved to stand in front of Emily who looked like she was going to fall - or willingly throw herself - off the roof. He grinned slyly, as he filed all the tiny little details into the budding stack labelled 'The Chronicles of Voodoo and Stryker's Relationship' he had created in his mind. Ahh, he could read people so well. A brief silence ensued as Voodoo sat back down and Stryker turned to look at Wade again.

"Anyway, back to your History lesson shall we? So, you know all too well after that that we successfully subdued and captured Emily where you never saw her again. Her sister on the other hand had escaped with a final effort from her guardian and we lost track of her, never really searching for her because she had never truly proved herself useful. Up until 6 years later that is. 'Brutal Murder of Corrupted Officer', 'Catastrophic Accident on Times Bridge', 'Budding Politician Murdered'. All of these 'cold' cases were your friends doing. Apparently, she had developed a certain issue and after her powers had manifested, developed a split personality that drove her to kill a very specific group of people. She was a loose cannon, never the same person, never the same methods. The serial killer that no one knew existed. To the whole world, it was all a series of unrelated accidents that happened a little too close to one another but the rest of us knew better. Charles Xavier later identified the perpetrator and after she single-handedly crippled more than half of his ragtag band of mutants, was captured. But he never was good with truly helping others to heal and the best thing he did was attempt to create a mental cage of the 'Bad' side to subdue it. The idiot later let her go and she went around the world, got into medical school and became a doctor all with a psycho maniac killer living in her head."

"Nice story, but do you mind telling me exactly why you had to tell me all that? Or are you trying the traditional method to coax someone to sleep?"

Wade piped up again, grateful that his voice did not reflect what he was really feeling in his head.

"Why did I tell you this? I told you this to remind you of something very, very important. You Wilson are responsible for all of this. You see, all of this started because of a very simple step, a step that you and the rest of Team X took all those years ago when you killed the sisters' parents. You are responsible Wilson; you were a participant in this play that is going to end with the sisters' demise. Remember that for you helped to rip the family apart. I don't care if you feel anything, most of us don't but you have changed, you have grown weak and now you can live with the reminder that the person you care about and the people she cares about are dead or suffering because of you. She will never forgive you."

Stryker hit Wade on the head before continuing, a victorious smirk on his face.

"Now Wade, I'll make you the deal. You work for me and I'll leave the two of you alone. She doesn't need to know anything. We'll disappear, me, Voodoo, her sister, we'll disappear. All you have to do is agree."

"I don't believe you."

"Ahh, but do you really have a choice Wilson?"

The question hit him hard as Wade shut his eyes, weighing his options. A moment of silence passed before Wade sighed and gave a tiny nod before the whole world went black.

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**Tell me what you think :)**


	8. Chapter 7: Base

**A/N: Well, hello! No, no I have not suddenly decided to go MIA again. So sorry for the delay, I had camp for the whole of last week and then there was all sorts of other activities in light of Christmas and then Christmas itself... Long story short, I've been a busy little bee. So I've finally returned and this is your new update! :) It's a little on the short side but this chapter is more of on the developmental side and really is just somewhere in between two events so I couldn't really make it very long :( So sorry **

**Thanks to those who have followed this story: JGBishop24, The Perfectly Damned and missjabbjabb :)**

**Thanks also to anyone who has taken time to read this story and/or have been following it so far :D Your support means a lot :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

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**Chapter 7: Base**

Consciousness tended to creep back on someone slowly; it was very much a process, gradual and slow. It began when sounds started to trickle into his mind's eye, when the blurry images in his head found companionship from a totally unrelated soundtrack. There was no actual sound, nothing that drew attention; just incessant humming that worked like white noise, staying in the background, always there yet never really noticed. It was loud to him though. The next thing that returned to him was his sense of touch as he was suddenly startlingly aware of his position lying on a stiff surface. He could tell that it was not the ground though so he assumed he was lying on a bed. The air around him was cool, signalling air conditioning at work. His brain supplied the connection between the humming and the temperature and he figured that he was lying on a bed in a room that was air-conditioned. That was however, the most that he could tell so he tentatively opened his eyes, immediately being assaulted by a harsh light above him. His eyes started to water as he swung to his feet, relieved that he had not been restrained. His eyes slowly focused and Wade finally clicked a name to the room he was being held captive in - the beloved holding room from the base he had called home a thousand lifetimes ago.

_Perfect._

Wade turned to stare, rather offended, at the one-way glass he knew someone would be watching him through. He glared at the invisible man and slammed his right hand into the glass; he knew he would not break it but he hoped he would be able to scare the guy a bit. He did like playing with his prey - until he killed them. Wade then took a few steps back and spread his arms out, announcing to the room in general.

"So... ... You caught my friend, kidnapped me rather rudely after threatening me and now you decide to dump me in this room and have someone that I'm going to have to kill later watch me? Isn't that sweet Stryker? It's like some homecoming reunion thingy that normal people go to. What exactly are you trying to do?"

After a brief pause and no reply, Wade continued, a frown forming on his face.

"Stryke... I swear if you release knock-out or mind-controlling or whatever gas in here, I am going to break that stupid one-way glass of yours and murder you and whatever stupid guys you have over there that you think can protect you... ..."

Wade dragged the last word out, letting the sound echo through the empty room as he waited. Finally the low, extremely irritating voice of Colonel William Stryker rang through the room as Wade looked up at where he knew the speakers were, as if he would be able to see Stryker.

"Wilson, have you noticed the band attached on your lower right arm?"

Wade looked at his arm in response and indeed, there was a silver band that was about 3 inches wide and just about as thick. He stared pointedly at the glass and visibly shrugged.

"Try teleporting."

Wade did as he was told, but instead of popping into existence in the room that he knew was behind the glass, he was hit by a sharp jolt of pain that left a stinging sensation in its wake. He winced slightly but did not make any sound. When Stryker did not continue, Wade stared at the glass again, irritated and honestly rather frustrated with his current predicament.

"So... ..."

"I hope that I have made my point clear."

"Sure, sure, clear as a lake in the morning sun with birds chirping in your garden-"

A loud hissing sound emanated from the thick steel door as it popped open. Wade jogged over to it and kicked the door open the rest of the way as two men armed with semi-automatic assault rifles greeted him, their firearms trained to his face.

"You _cannot_ believe the hospitality in this place. Believe it or not, I think it has improved through my absence. If I tell you what those guards used to do..."

Wade made a quick scan around him, noting that Stryker had departed after his speech. He rolled his eyes as the guards started to move, prompting him forward as he made to follow them. Eventually, they stood behind him and gave him directions, letting him lead. He had to resist the urge to laugh; all he would have had to do was turn his arms to an angle and extend the blades that were in them and they would be dead before they even had time to pull the trigger. The standards have really dropped, or this two are just the most stupid guys they have. The latter might actually be true, Stryker would not want to lose anyone useful because Wade decided they were walking too slow or just did not feel very happy.

The room he had been led into was another that he had been particularly familiar with in the past - the interrogation room. It was painted in a dull grey and the only furniture it housed was a lone table that was stationed in the centre of the room that was flanked by two chairs on the two sides of the table that were facing the east and west of him. Yet another one-way glass was in the wall behind one of the chairs and sitting in that chair, looking all too comfortable with the world was Stryker. He waved at the chair opposite from him and Wade settled down. His escorts moved into the room as well and were joined by two others, each moving to guard his own corner of the room. The guns stayed trained on him though and now they really were too far to hit. _Too bad_. Wade then turned his attention to Stryker and promised himself to kill all the people there once he had rescued the sisters.

"So how about you give me my mission, I complete it and I grab my friend and get out of here forever? You don't get hurt, I don't get hurt, it's a win-win."

Stryker's face betrayed no emotion as he silently slid a file over the table, withdrawing his hand before it had even reached striking distance. Wade rolled his eyes. _Paranoid coward_. The mercenary threw the cover open with a lot more force than was strictly necessary and was greeted with a somewhat blurry picture of a girl with flaming red hair. The picture was clearly taken without her knowledge and the girl had been standing near a large, extravagant-looking building when it had been taken. Wade could see another person in the picture - a sandy blonde boy that wore shades with deep-red lenses - but the focus was clearly the red head. The girl was young, by Wade's estimate she would be about 13 to 14 years old and he was seldom wrong. Nothing a kid could do at that time should be severe enough to make them deserve death. Wade sighed.

"So... you want me to kill her?"

"No Wilson. She is far too valuable for that."

The other honestly much more terrifying option then occurred to him. He should have known. Stryker does not just kill them.

"Capture?"

"Yes Wilson. Who knew you could be so concise?"

Wade ignored the comment and started flipping through his brief as Stryker started explaining the whole tragic back-story.

"The original weapons project, the one involving you, had involved the capture of multiple mutant subjects, some of their powers now existing also in you. But you see Wilson, James ended up letting the specimens out and all I had left when I returned were research papers and test results. Your failure in defeating Wolverine only proves that there were flaws with the programming and hence flaws with the project, all of which need to be rectified by way of more research. But research cannot be conducted without lab rats and they have all very conveniently escaped. So, after some searching..."

"Not done by you I'm sure." Wade interjected.

"I have discovered that they are now residing in the home of Professor Charles Xavier, the same professor that gave your girlfriend a split personality." Stryker continued, expertly ignoring the interruption.

"It's a mutant hive really, that mansion of his. But when my men surveyed the grounds, they found a specimen with far more potential than any of the fools we caught previously - a telepath."

Wade nodded to Stryker's story, pretending to actually care about anything he had to say to him.

"So... is there anything actually useful that you care to share? I'm all ears."

Once again, Stryker ignored the comment and continued.

"You will be given two handguns; one will be loaded with bullets and the other with tranquilizer darts. You will also be given the katana swords that you used during your service to our organization-"

"Returned, not given. You guys were too stingy to buy me weapons so I had to use my own. Not that it would get pass my quality checks though. Your guys just look at how shiny it is and check that it can cut. Amateurs. You should really send them to knife school. Shiny-ness does not determine a weapon's strength! And you can sharpen them yourself for goodness sake. Idiots."

Stryker sighed and allowed a brief pause for Wade to finish ranting before he continued.

"You will also be given several specialized grenades. Once you get the girl, burn the building to the ground. No point in keeping useless pests around."

"So you just want the 'valuable' guy huh? That's sweet."

"You will collect your gear in room 0458-"

"The weapons room, just say the weapons room. You don't need to be technical with me Stryky. We're closer than that. We've got a really colourful history together remember?"

Apparently Wade's efforts were paying off as Stryker sighed and closed his eyes in exasperation. Annoying people was fun. Stryker recovered from whatever it was that had came over him and continued with a deliberately calm, which was really just fake, voice.

"You are to board the helicopter which will transport you to your destination at 0400 hours tonight in hangar 3."

"4am? Well that's just inhumane. Tell me, why in the world do all secret spy organizations, or fake secret spy organizations in your case, have to send their guys out so early in the morning? Do you have no idea what sleep deprivation can do to your health? Not your health of course, I'm sure you must sleep a lot, but the health of all your guys, their families and the people. Think about America, all the little children!"

"0300 hours."

"4am it is! See you or rather not. I'm sure you'll be sleeping. _I_ wouldn't want to wake you at such an ungodly hour!"

"Return to the holding room. It will serve as your accommodation."

"Cozy."

With that established, Stryker left the room, two of the four guards following after him. Staring at his escorts, Wade grinned and waved at them before rising from his chair.

"So, my best friends in this junk yard of a building that aren't currently either a) dreaming or b) knocked out and lying in a tube. So, let's go crash at my place okay? It's got air conditioning!"

The helicopter had taken off from the base promptly at 4am, and had landed in Westchester County, New York about 10 minutes ago after a 3 hour ride.

A very sleepy Wade had then had to travel 5 miles to another location, supposedly to avoid suspicions or something like that, to get to another car and have yet another ride that lasted 1 and a half hours that was bumpy as hell. He had to resist the urge to murder the driver more about 20 times on the journey there and then even more once it was over and Wade had no direct use for the man. He had driven up to a large mansion, complete with a front and back yard as well as a basketball court. Wade had been dropped off quite a distance from the building of course but he could not help but feel slightly intimidated by it. _A hive of mutants_. This would be a challenge but honestly, Wade thrived at challenges. The driver quickly unlocked the band on Wade's hand before curtly informing him that he would pick him up two days from now at the same location and leaving. Wade pulled a pair of binoculars from the bag he had brought with him and stared at his destination. The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was a refuge to the homeless, a school for the mutants and home to his target - Jean Grey. Wade let the grin creep up on his face as he lowered the binoculars, looking around him to study his environment. _Well, this will be fun._

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**Tell me what you think :)**


	9. Chapter 8: Mission

**A/N: Hello! So, much to the horror of just myself really, school has started for me here and while things are still pretty slow, I can foresee that changing soon. :( Anyway, this is the chapter for this week! :) On a more important note, please know that I DO NOT read the comics but I have watched all five of the X-Men movies. Unfortunately for me, there are slight inconsistencies between them. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the Professor was bald and standing when he recruited the group from the island but from X-Men: First Class, he was not bald when he got paralysed so I'm just going to ignore the whole thing and go with the classic bald and wheelchair-bound. I have taken a couple of people from X-Men: First Class since I don't really think they will desert the Prof but while I'm going to assume most would have watched the movie, it's not really that important to know who they are :) **

**Thank you to Batgirl619 who followed this story :) **

**Thanks also to anyone who has been reading/following this story. The support means a lot :D**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

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**Chapter 8: Mission**

Wade Wilson may be snarky, sarcastic, sometimes a bit arrogant and an extremely highly skilled swordsman (in his own opinion), but he has been in the Hire-to-Kill business for a long time and survival in an industry where you could wake up to your roommate holding a knife to your throat involved much more than skills and wit; it needed brains, and Wade was one smart mercenary. The timeline he had been given involved pickup two days after the drop-off date which would mean two full days before the day and if he did not act on his base instinct to find the cheapest motel and crash, he had two days to scout, one day to act and subdue the target and one last day which would have a hopefully early pickup. After spending about an hour circling the area around the mansion's territory at a reasonably safe distance, Wade had a pretty good mental map of the place and had also found various hiding places where he could watch the day-to-day activities without drawing attention to himself. After all, a mercenary's job was very much similar to that of a spy; you have to know more about your enemy than he did about you and you had to kill him before he killed you. It was a dog-bite-dog world out there and Wade was not planning on getting bitten. After the initial hour of surveying the grounds, Wade took his position at his chosen hiding place and watched the mansion with the intensity of a hawk. The spot he had chosen had good cover from the trees which both gave him shade and provided a good cover from any prying eyes that may be looking for him. He changed his position often, teleporting to various places of varying distances from the mansion but he still favoured the spot in the tree cover and tended to stay there longer. It did after all have the best view of the mansion. By the end of the day, he had come to a reasonable conclusion as to the mansion's workings and the schedule of most of its inhabitants. Since it was a school, a good part of all the residents were students and spent most of their time in one room or another presumably having lessons. The other inhabitants – the teachers Wade suspected – were with the students most of the time but they disappeared for about two hours sometime in the night after Wade watched them ride what looked to be an elevator which prompted him to start to consider exactly how big the mansion really was. After he was sure that the inhabitants of the mansion had more or less all went to sleep, Wade left the place with all his newfound data and went to search for the cheapest motel, cursing Stryker all the way.

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He had known the moment the man had entered the grounds. To the typical bystander, he would not appear out of place, just a normal passerby whose curiosity had been aroused by the extravagant building that was so out of place in the city. But when his presence did not leave for the rest of the day, the Professor's guard had been raised. After his lessons with the new additions to his family, he had retreated down to the basement where he had recently, with the help of the now faraway Hank McCoy, built a replica of the original Cerebro. He had then proceeded to attempt to track the intruder but had discovered something very odd – he _could not _track him. The man was rapidly appearing and disappearing in and out of different places around the grounds and though he did stay still at certain points, it was never long enough for the Professor to get a good read on him. It was then that he had realized that they were dealing with someone very different from what he had expected. When the various 'senior' members of the X-Men had come down to the basement for Danger Room practice, he had called them to discuss the new intruder on their grounds.

"It appears that there has been a strange presence that has been circling the mansion for the whole day, but I can't get a read on him. He keeps… … jumping."

Alex Summers, Havok, along with Sean Cassidy, Banshee, watched the Professor, frowns forming on their foreheads as they looked between them. After their confrontation with Shaw and Magneto, they had left Charles but had later returned to offer their assistance to the Professor's cause until their services were no longer required. After all, the man had taken them in and had treated them not unlike his own family. It was the least they could do, especially after the accident had left him paralysed waist down.

"But what do you mean by 'jumping'?" Summers piped up. The Professor had never had any trouble tracking mutants or humans alike.

"His position keeps changing, rapidly." The Professor offered, ever the picture of calm and nonchalance.

"So you mean like teleporting?" Sean suggested. After all, if the man was a mutant and there were mutants that could quite literally 'eat' a bomb, how odd would teleporting be? It was a fairly widespread idea.

"That may be correct but nevertheless, until I can get a read on this man, I would advise both of you to keep a look out. He was been around the area for the whole day and I don't think he is sight-seeing."

The two other men looked at each other before looking back at their mentor, the man that had taught them so much over the years. They nodded in unison before Alex stood up.

"Don't worry, we'll keep a lookout. Is there anything else though?"

"There is something about this one. He's different but I don't know how. I would suggest that neither of you attempt to confront him. I have a feeling he's not like the rest of us."

Alex nodded as Sean rose as well before both of them left the room to start their practice sessions in the Danger Room. The Professor slowly moved his wheelchair and headed back upstairs to the ground level. He could feel all of the student's minds, the dreams of those who were sleeping and the thoughts of those who were not. He searched the grounds with his mind to find their new friend to be missing but he was sure that today would not be the last they would be seeing him. As he wheeled himself to a nearby window, he watched the sky as rain began to fall, the splatters on the roof and windows forming a rhythmic tune. The Professor frowned as questions began to fill his mind. _Who are you… Wade Wilson?_

* * *

The motel that Wade had found was indeed cheap and there was only so much he could expect from something like that. In the past, before the whole Weapon X team and all, Wade thrived as a mercenary, earning more from one hit than what most could get in a year. So, naturally, he got himself much more comfortable accommodation during his travels around the world to find expensive people to kill. But Stryker very obviously was not going to grant him such a luxury. Throwing himself on one of the two beds in the petite room he had rented, he wondered more about what he was doing. These two days had passed in a flash, and the time before felt like it had come from a different lifetime where he was not him and yet was _more_ himself than he ever was. Grumbling and burying his head in the scruffy pillow, Wade attempted to coax himself to sleep. But sleep tended to evade one with a heavy heart and that night, it evaded him for a long time.

* * *

Wade had arrived back in his spot near the mansion before the sun was even up. He had woken after just three hours of a restless sleep and could not coax himself back into it. After that, he had dragged himself up and gotten himself some breakfast from a 24/7 convenience store and plopped back on his spot, chewing his sandwich with a vengeance. He had resigned to his sleepless fate and had decided to simply spend his entire day attempting to find out as much as he could about the mansion before he attacked it the next day. He had not even spotted Grey the day before and he was determined to change that. Repeating his style from the day before, he teleported often, never settling long in one spot. He watched the world go by through the lenses of his binoculars and attempted to deduce the abilities of his new adversaries. They would be collateral damage if they attempted to get in his way and Wade was going to try to minimise unnecessary deaths. By the time it was noon, he was dead on his feet and the only thing that was keeping him from crashing was an adrenaline surge that he was riding on and sheer willpower and stubbornness. The day had been boring with the same old schedule but before Wade made a quick bolt to get some lunch, something caught his attention. The students, as well as their teachers were coming out of the mansion in unison, heading to the backyard. It was only then that Wade finally got a good gauge on the number of mutants in the residence and to be honest, the odds were not in his favour. The only thing that was advantageous to him was the fact that he has been in this business longer and most of everybody living in the mansion were just kids that had little to no control over their powers or had powers that were not directly dangerous to him. He watched them practice, some stronger than others and made a mental note of those who he should look out for, just in case. There was still no sign of Jean Grey though. It was only until later when Wade had made a quick trip to grab some lunch and returned with all the enthusiasm of a dog on vet day that he spotted her. Like the others before, she emerged to have practice in the backyard. She was accompanied by a bald man who was wheelchair bound and the boy from the picture. Wade watched on as the oldest of their group carefully manoeuvred himself here and there as he set up objects for the girl to manipulate. Sometimes, she would launch them and the boy would hit them with what looked to be optic blasts from his eyes. His accuracy was sometimes off and it appeared to fluctuate quite a lot but Wade added all three of them to his list of people-to-look-out-for.

Once he had spotted her, it was easy to follow the girl through her path in the school. By the end of the day, Wade had discovered which room was hers and marked it out in his mental map of what he had gathered about the mansion. He doubted that he would be completely correct but at least he had a brief idea. After the girl had slept and Wade watched to check the time in which the other residents of the soon-to-be-not peaceful mansion tucked in, Wade left to grab himself a long delayed dinner.

* * *

He had felt him watching them when he was having his private training session with Scott and Jean earlier in the day and while his presence disappeared and reappeared often, he had been around for the rest of the day. The Professor was becoming increasingly worried about the man. There was such a strong feeling of pain in him, covered under layers of will, determination, hatred and the occasional annoyance. The Professor had tried again in the night to get a read on the man but had once again failed. He could never lock onto his position and he could not focus too hard or he would risk hurting or even killing other mutants that his mind was connected to. Perhaps Sean was right and the man was indeed a teleporter. But something told the Professor that there was more to Wade Wilson than met the eye and what he might find would not be pretty.

* * *

Wade had thankfully gotten himself about 9 hours of a good and proper sleep thanks to the accumulated fatigue of the days before. It was finally mission day. He would attack the mansion straight up, head to the second floor where he knew the girl's room was, tranquilize her, take her and get the hell out of the place, all the while defeating anyone who might stand up against him. That should be simple enough. Wade figured that he already had a good idea of the schedule there and his best bet to find the girl as quickly as possible was to attack when the students were expected to be in their rooms. That would mean dusk to dawn. So, Wade spent the day making preparations, checking his weapons, sharpening his swords, packing everything into the harness and making sure that he knew the location of each weapon he was carrying well and that they were in easy reach whenever he would need them. He doubted that he would need more than his swords and his teleportation but one could never be too careful. After that, he had taken yet another nap, this one lasting three hours before taking a shower, changing into a spandex that was totally his style (it was attention-catching as hell) and grabbing all his things before leaving.

He arrived at the mansion just a few moments later, just as the last of its residents were getting ready for bed. Grinning, he stalked over to the huge building, walking at a comfortable pace and swiftly pulling out the bullet-loaded gun to bust the lock over the main gate.

"Wake up children! I'm here!"

Wade announced with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning before kicking the door of the Xavier mansion wide open.

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	10. Chapter 9: The Mansion

**A/N: I am so so sorry! I have been having a hell of a week and have not found the time nor energy to upload chapters. School really does kill. This chapter makes multiple references to other characters that were supposedly (according to whatever sources I could find) in the cages on Stryker's island from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Like last time, you will not need to know them since they basically only appear for a bit and don't really play anything largely important. On a more important note, I have discovered that I may have credited a reviewer wrongly back in Chapter 7. I keep track of followers and reviewers through the notifications sent by FF to my email. But I found out that it messed up or something and gave me the wrong reviewer name O.O So sorry to Charlie McManus and Rorschach in Blue Jeans for the mix-up! I will take better care to cross-reference every now and then more frequently. On a side note, slight warning, this chapter turned out kind of dark O.O Anyways,**

**Thanks to my two reviewers: ****BatGirl619 and fandelivres! :D Thanks for the reviews! :D They really made my day. The support is really very appreciated!~ ^^**

**Thanks also to Joker's Lover for following this story! :)**

**Thanks to all who have been reading/following this story! :D The support is very much appreciated and loved :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Mansion**

The doctor walked over to the hostage, watching her sleeping form with a clinical gaze. The contraption was indeed brilliant, and the doctor wondered why his superior would appoint him such a task. He would make things far more complicated than they needed to be but orders were orders and he was obligated to follow them. Swiftly entering the code into the system, a loud hissing sound emanated from the machine before the glass lid covering the wiring opened and the syringe extracted itself with the help of a mechanical arm. The doctor emptied its contents before filling it with his own and resetting the system.

* * *

The moment Wade had kicked the door open with all the stealth of an angry bull, a thousand alarms went off and he could not help his reflex reaction to cover his ears. Brandishing his gun once more, he swiftly fired a shot to each surveillance camera and alarm that he could see. As the sound dimmed down, he stalked up the main stairway, heading to the room of his target. He could hear the various habitants of the mansion waking up now as he turned the corner. He had never seen the actual hallway so he could not teleport straight to it. Even then, with a house full of potentially dangerous mutants, Wade remained the very picture of nonchalance as he walked around as if he owned the place. He turned yet another corner, attempting to find the right hallway. That was when he heard shouting coming from the floor below. Ignoring the intrusion, he turned back to the hallway and was met with a student. He recognised her from the training session he had watched the day before and knew that she came from the list of people he did not want to meet. The girl had snow-white hair and a dark complexion. Based on her height, Wade would guess she was 14 or 15 years old. She was staring at him with wide, clear blue eyes that as he watched, were slowly turning white.

"Crap."

Wade had spun out of the way before the bolt of lightning hit the spot where he had been standing on, charring the wood.

"Who are you?"

Wade ignored the question and dodged yet another bolt and rolled on the ground, the gears of his mind turning to figure out a way to get out of his situation. The running downstairs was getting louder and he could hear someone ascending the steps to join them. They must have heard the commotion. Wade knew he was good but he was not going to take on two mutants at a time, especially if the new addition also came from the list of people he was starting to dislike. Dodging another lightning strike, Wade focused on the spot behind the girl and teleported, appearing behind her and kicking the girl at the back of the knee. The knee gave way and the girl fell forward, catching herself at the last moment with her hands and ending up on all-fours. Before the girl could even understand what was happening, Wade wrapped an arm over her jugular and pulled upwards, forcing her back on her knees and cutting off her oxygen supply. The girl struggled but eventually passed out and Wade released her before he did anything permanent. The girl crumbled to the ground and another rose to take her place as a boy that looked to be about 22 with brown hair appeared, sparing a glance at the fallen girl before moving towards Wade. The latter moved backwards further into the hallway as his new adversary moved forward to stand over the fallen girl, leaning down to check her pulse all while keeping his eyes glued to Wade who was finding his actions peculiar. The boy abruptly pulled the girl up and covered her ears with one arm before ducking his head.

A shrill scream emanated from behind Wade as he immediately fell forward, shock and frustration fighting for his attention. He was really starting to hate this place, damn Stryker and all his stupid projects. He was never going to work for him again, he would move to Antarctica or something. Covering his ears with his hands, he watched the red head move closer, continuing to scream as even more people started to get attracted to the commotion. Wade teleported and the moment he did, the screaming stopped and the red head turned around and the shrill screaming started again. They had obviously seen him take down their comrade as Wade found himself getting flung out of the mansion – through a window at the end of the hall - by some guy screaming. The world really was coming to an end. For a guy that had no idea what just happened, Wade thought he stuck the landing quite well, rolling to prevent any injury – though those would have healed quickly anyway – and rising to his feet in one swift movement. Looking up at his two adversaries, he swung a fist at them, enraged.

"Is that all you got?! You're going to _scream_ at me?!"

The red head turned to his companion who then turned to look at the angry Wade and shot plasma blasts - that did not look too far-off from blades - at him. Wade cursed and teleported back into the ground floor of the mansion, knocking out two kids who happened to run into him before heading upstairs with a vengeance. Any rational person would have altered their course to avoid those two residents but Wade liked the challenge – and was honestly rather put-out – and he did not have a choice; he had to go that way to get to Jean anytime soon. When he reached the second floor, the two companions turned to look at him as the red head made to scream again. Wade pulled out his tranquilizer-loaded gun and fired two shots straight at the guy's neck as he fell to the ground. Mr Plasma-Shooter then fired at him as Wade drew his blades from where they were sheathed on his back. Forming a cross, he timed himself perfectly as he cut out just as the plasma hit the metal, effectively deflecting the blast and creating a gaping hole in the neighbouring wall. The smoke from the explosion bought him time as he dashed forward before teleporting above his adversary and dropping right on top of him, teleporting again. They ended up 50 feet above mansion, falling. The brown-haired man attempted to aim while falling but failed as Wade worked well with the new environment. When they were just about to hit the ground, Wade turned his blade around and hit the man's head hard using the hilt of his sword. He then grabbed him and teleported again, higher off the ground and kicked his passenger straight into the front yard, where he landed with a loud thud and a trail of upset grass and mud. Before he could fall, Wade teleported back to the front door of the mansion, feeling fairly pleased with his handiwork and sparing one final glance at the fallen Havok before heading back inside.

Walking towards the stairs, what felt like a strong gust of wind hit him hard. Before he could regain his bearings, he was hit again causing him to stumble. Looking up, he spotted a young boy with white hair standing not too far away from him. Wade rose and the boy disappeared into a streak of silver and white, slamming into him hard. Wade tightened his grip on his two blades as he rose again. The boy dashed and Wade fell into a spin, his blades pointing outwards as they cut the approaching boy. The boy fell, hitting the ground hard. Sighing, Wade made for the stairs and climbed up, mumbling to himself. He was growing tired of this game. If there was anyone he really wanted to mince, it was Stryker. As he reached the second floor, he was hit by a strong blast on his back, burning the skin slightly. Wade felt the wound heal as he whipped around to see yet another boy, this time with a head full of brown hair and wearing shades with red lenses. Recognition hit Wade as a random memory popped into his mind.

"Hey… I know you! And not because I've been watching this place for the last eternity! You were on the island right? Wait… how do I know that? I thought I was strapped to an operating table and then unleashed on Wolverine after they were done poking me with pointy things…"

The boy ignored the statement and shot him again. Wade teleported out of the way and to the mouth of the hallway. Here he was greeted by a teenage girl who watched him before the skin on her body was covered in thick, shiny diamonds.

"Hey… I know you too! You were on the island like that guy! You were someone's sister right?"

Wade teleported out of the way as another blast was thrown at him from the boy.

"So you guys are two-teaming me?"

Wade teleported down the hallway, prompting the boy to follow before returning to his previous spot at the mouth.

"Gotcha!"

The boy whipped his head around as Wade fired at him with his tranquilizer-loaded gun. But before any of the projectiles could reach their target, the girl came in the way, defending her friend as the darts hit her and fell right off almost comically. Wade heaved a sigh as the duo worked against him, eventually forcing him further out the hallway. They had fallen into a comfortable pattern of shoot-and-block and Wade was growing irritated fairly quickly. Then a random revelation occurred to him. Wade withdrew his blades and formed a cross in front of himself as he waited for the boy to shoot him again. When said boy did shoot him, he tilted the swords slightly towards diamond-girl as the blast hit and he cut out. The blast effectively went hurtling towards the girl as it hit her back into the wall and knocked her out. Wade then swiftly swapped his blades for his gun and shot two darts into the boy's neck.

"There, problem solved."

Wade continued on his way down the hall, taking out whomever else that happened to emerge from their rooms. Then, he finally arrived at the final room at the end of the hall and paused. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward pensively and reached for the knob. Before his skin came in contact with the metal, he was held back. A voice rang in his head, calming and smooth.

"This is not who you are Wade."

Wade paused as he turned to look around him. A man rolled up in a wheelchair and Wade recognised him immediately as the Professor. His voice continued to ring in his mind even though his lips were not moving.

"Stop now. You don't have to live like this."

"What do you know?"

Wade snapped back, slightly frustrated.

"I've been watching you Wade, ever since you came here. I know how you feel, what you think about yourself and the things you have done. Stop before you sink any deeper. Let me help you."

Wade snickered at the man as he reached his hands up, easily finding the hilt of his twin swords and drawing them.

"And you're all about helping people right?"

The Professor frowned, as Wade pulled up memories in his head of the conversation with Stryker that he had had on the roof. Was that really just 3 days ago?

"Your friend was in trouble. She was being controlled by a force even she could not understand. I helped her best that I could."

"And look where we are now."

Wade stated, his tone growing icy.

"Wade—"

"You can't help me. No one can."

With that, Wade turned back to the door, reaching for the metal knob.

"I cannot let you do that."

The Professor stated as Wade was once again met with a force that held him back.

"I don't want to hurt you but I will if you make me."

Wade announced as he whipped back around, his blade held forward. It swung just inches from the older man's neck when he turned, solidifying the warning.

"You don't want to kill anymore. Stop tormenting yourself."

"I'm tired of this conversation. Let me through."

"I will not let you hurt my student."

"Fine then."

Wade turned back to the door as he swiftly fished out one of the fancy grenades Stryker had given him. Holding the button down, it flashed red as Wade casually threw it behind him, teleporting to buy himself a few seconds of safety. The crimson flames rose, licking up the wood it came into contact with. As they reached out to the wheelchair-bound man, they wrapped around him, forming a ball of flame as they bent to his will. Wade reappeared into existence and kicked the door now, having had successfully distracted the bodyguard.

The room was fairly average in size, with a single bed lined against the wall on his right. Right in front of him was an expansive window, the view of which was blocked by a thick, red curtain. Leaning against the wall on Wade's left was a study table, the lamp of which was still on, illuminating the room in a dull glow that dimmed as it got further from the table. Wade could see books – opened and closed – littering the surface of the wood that most probably originated from a bookshelf tucked neatly in between the wall and the table. The floor was the same as it was out on the hallway – wooden boarding – but a large part of it was covered by a bushy carpet that gave the room a cosy feel. Wade spotted her the moment he entered, cowered in the corner between the bed and the furthest wall. She had flaming red hair and was dressed in her pyjamas, looking for all the world, terrified. The girl spoke first.

"You're here to catch me."

The words formed a statement more than a question. _A gifted telepath even at this age…_ Wade thought to himself as he shrugged lightly.

"Yep."

"Why?"

The girl asked, moving to rise from her hiding place.

"I was told to."

"And you do everything you are told to?"

Wade paused as something bubbled inside him. Rage? Irritation? He was not really sure.

"I'm sorry."

With the statement out, Wade drew both his guns, and rapidly fired the one loaded with bullets. As he had expected, they were stopped in mid-air and flew harmlessly onto the bed that separated the two. He then fired off shots from his tranquilizer-loaded gun, achieving his goal. The girl had been focused on removing the immediate threat and for all her abilities at this age, simply could not stop that many projectiles coming at her so quickly. The darts buried themselves in her neck as the girl doubled over slightly, glaring at Wade. Something in her eyes flashed, turning them a bright and fiery red before she fell to the ground. Returning both his guns to their holsters on his sides, Wade moved forward, going around the bed before bending down and picking up the girl, throwing her petite form over his shoulder fireman style.

After getting a good grip on his new captive, Wade withdrew a blade with his free hand and hit the butt of it into the window, shattering the glass and revealing the cool night before him. Taking in a deep breath, he stepped up to the windowsill, his feet protected by the heavy-duty boots he was wearing, and jumped.

* * *

He stuck the landing well, as he rose and turned back to the mansion. Retrieving the pouch that stored his arsenal of grenades, Wade pushed down the central control as every one of the bombs lit up into life. Tossing the bag behind him, Wade continued to move forward, adjusting his grip on his new baggage. The grenades exploded in a flurry of flame and sparks as it moved to engulf the building. Wade did not turn back, did not bother to look at the fire bend to form a sphere around the mansion, did not bother to see the inferno part and dissipate into the air, and did not bother to watch the rain that abruptly descended upon the plot of land that the mansion stood on. As Wade walked away, one final thought unburied itself in his mind, a foreign thought that had a calming and smooth voice, one that he guessed he could now recognise in his sleep.

"You're better than this Wade. All you have to do is forgive yourself."

Before he knew what he was doing, Wade found himself replying, thinking his response instead of speaking it.

"I can't."

And with that, Wade teleported, disappearing into a cloud of red smoke and dust with Jean Grey slung over his shoulder.

* * *

**Tell me what you think! :)**


	11. Chapter 10: More than Meets the Eye

**A/N: Hello! So sorry for the delay. I was sick last week and had all sorts of other drama. Anyway, much to my distress, I have been down with a serious case of writer's block coupled with an overload of school work. I'm still squeezing time out to write and will continue updating though you'll probably have to bear with slightly longer waits in-between. I'm sorry! I will get this done up as soon as possible. I've recently decided to properly organize my life out so I'll probably reshuffle out spare time here and there to write more. Sorry! On the bright side, this chapter is pretty long. :)**

**Thanks to Princess Aralee who followed this story :) Thanks also to all who have been reading/following this story so far! The support is well-appreciated! :D**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 10: More than Meets the Eye**

There had been no one at the reception desk by the time Wade had arrived back at the motel. He had then taken the liberty of letting himself into his room before dumping his cargo on the spare bed. Moving quickly, Wade unpacked all his gear before fetching a case that he had slid in between the headboard of one of the beds and the wall and unlocking it. The lid easily swung open and revealed four syringes – three of them holding a clear liquid labelled 'Propofol'*1 and the fourth filled with a liquid labelled 'Ritalin'*2. Wade huffed before extracting one of the Propofol-filled syringes and injecting its contents into his new prisoner. The girl shifted slightly as her eyelids twitched. Wade pulled away and waited before she settled again. Then, expelling a breath he had not realised he had been holding, Wade quickly started clearing up the supplies and packing up his gear into his weapons bag.

* * *

The room shook. Wade's eyes snapped open as he awoke, sitting ramrod straight on the bed. He looked around him, wondering about the source of the disturbance. He glanced briefly down at his arms, noticing that he had drawn his blades out of habit. In the past, he used to sleep with an arm under his pillow, his hand secured firmly around the hilt of a dagger. Now that he quite literally had a blade in his arm, he tended not to do that anymore but still liked to have a weapon near him. His body had drawn the swords out of instinct, responding to whatever had woken him, preparing for a threat. He sighed and withdrew the blades back into his arm before roughly scrubbing a scarred hand down his face. Taking one last look around the room, Wade moved to lie back down when the room shook again, sending him ramrod straight once more. He looked around rapidly, naturally turning to check on his recently-acquired prisoner. That was when he paused. The straps that he had put over the girl had been unlocked and were hanging limply over the side of the bed, waving slightly from the light breeze that was coming through the crack in the window. But what was more interesting was that the supposedly heavily sedated girl was sitting up on her bed, her legs crossed in front of her and staring right at him. Wade could not help the shock that he knew was creeping on his face as the girl stared straight through him, her green eyes suddenly growing an unnatural red before the veins around her eyes surged with blood and coloured the skin black. As he continued to watch, the pupils dilated as more and more of the girl's eyes turned charcoal black. She cocked her head slightly to the side as she rose from her spot on the bed, going up to a standing position. The girl's lips moved as a low hissing emanated from the depths of her throat and Wade instinctively scrambled backward. This had _not _been in the mission brief. The girl raised her hands on either side of her as she moved higher and higher until her feet were no longer on the bed. An artificial breeze swept through the room as the flaming red hair of Wade's prisoner spread out behind her, suddenly having an uncanny resemblance to snakes and giving the girl an all-new psychotic look. The girl broke into a sudden smile as she reached out one hand to him, her lips parting as she spoke to him yet none of the words reached him. Wade's hands flew to his neck as a sudden force clasped on his jugular and pulled him up. Kicking with his legs in a natural response, Wade stared in wide-eyed shock as he realised that the girl's hands were now in a neck-hold position and as she tightened her grip on thin air, the force on his neck grew stronger. He attempted to speak but all the sound he managed to produce were in the form of strangled gasps. Then he realised something that should have occurred to him a far longer time ago and teleported.

* * *

Wade fell straight into the dresser that held all his gear, hitting the dusty top with a loud thud before unceremoniously rolling off and falling on the ground straight on his face. He groaned as he quickly pushed himself into an upright position and scrambled backwards until his back hit the wood of the dresser. He was rather surprised then to realise that his eyes were dry from sleep and that the room was the exact same way that he had left it, bags of gear pushed up to one side, suitcase of syringes left beside them and Jean Grey lying strapped to a bed with no sign of regaining consciousness anytime soon. Wade cautiously put one hand behind him as he braced himself and pushed himself up into a standing position. Then he tentatively took a step toward his prisoner, as if he were navigating a mine field. When he finally got up next to her, he reached one hand out and checked the various straps that he had used to keep her down just in case she might wake and came away with the conclusion that all of them were tight and secured – just as he had left them. Then, slowly walking backwards, always keeping his eyes on the girl, Wade headed off to the petite bathroom and shut the door. Flicking on the light switch, he turned to the sink and washed his face, staring at the haggard reflection in the mirror. As he continued to splash water on himself, something caught his eye and he jerked upright, tilting his chin upwards to get a better look. There, marked perfectly clearly on his previously fair jugular was a dark, angry bruise. Wade turned his head left and right to get a better look and by then, he had established it for what it was - a handprint. As his breathing sped up, Wade watched as the bruise slowly faded away as he healed. He gripped his head with both his hands as his breathing crept toward hyperventilation before he pointed to the door that separated him and his new roommate as if someone were watching.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no this is not happening." Wade mouthed to himself silently, his body suddenly terrified of the prospect of speaking too loudly and waking the girl.

Then, Wade rather lamely drew both the swords in his arms, nudged the door open and crept slowly toward the girl. He poked each strap with one blade to check that they were still secured tightly before creeping away backward and out the door, keeping both eyes locked on the girl the whole time until he turned the knob and fled from the room.

* * *

Four hours later, Wade was settled in an uncomfortable rattan chair in a café not too far away from the motel. He pulled the hood of his jacket lower over his face as he reached toward the table to grab his cup of coffee. Sniffing it, he took a quick sip before settling it back on its place on the glass table and taking a quick glance at his phone on the table. The screen had turned off again and Wade sighed before making a quick jab at one of the buttons, waking the phone from its sleep. The default wallpaper of different shades of blue smiled back at him mockingly. _Still no messages, still no phone calls. _Wade thought quietly to himself before picking the little device up and checking both the message inbox and the call log just to kill whatever hope that had been threatening to rise in him ten seconds before. He looked around him as the city came to life. The sky was now a deep shade of blue and Wade turned to his phone once more to check the time. _6:45 a.m._ Wade sniffed as he reached for his coffee once more, sparing a brief glance back at the window of the motel room he was supposed to occupy and somewhat relieved that the room had yet to spontaneously burst into flame, explode or disappear. He scrubbed a hand down his face as he leaned back in his seat, the chair creaking from the weight. After he had fled from the room of horror, Wade had gone to the park in a typical homeless-person maneuver but had failed to get to sleep. He had then spent two hours sprawled on his back in the grass near the park's pond, staring up at the night sky and mumbling to it as if it were listening. After that, he had, under a sudden adrenaline surge most probably brought about from exhaustion, went back to the room and retrieved a jacket, money and his phone before escaping again. An hour and a half of pointless wandering found him at the café that he was currently in, watching the motel and waiting for the call from the driver. He was starting to wonder why they could not just let him teleport back to the base on his own. Sighing once more, Wade made a quick snatch at his coffee, chugging the rest of the bitter drink down before slamming the cup back on the table with more force than was strictly necessary. His fellow patrons nearby turned to look at him rather heatedly as he rose and put money on the table before leaving the squat café.

He honestly had no idea where he was going. All he knew was that if he continued sitting at the café, staring into blank space and waiting for nothing, someone was going to die. Wade stifled a yawn as he glared at the cell phone. It had been issued to him before he had left to serve as means of contact between the driver and himself. It was hence company property and armed with that knowledge, Wade was now fighting the increasingly growing urge to smash the little device just so he could vent his frustration. A sudden thought occurred to him then and he scrolled through the phone's contact list, a hopeful edge to the grin that had found a way to creep back on his face. When he came up empty though, his mood immediately dampened as he continued on his journey to nowhere, raising the phone gripped tightly in his palm occasionally as if contemplating whether the 10 seconds of satisfaction it would grant him to smash it was going to be worth the prospect of losing his only way to contact the stupid driver. Well, he could technically take the SIM card out of the phone but there were budgets involved and Wade honestly did not have enough money on hand to get a new one – that was unless he stole one. So for all his annoyance and irritation, all the man could do was find somewhere comfortable, sit down and wait. Wade hated waiting.

* * *

The sun stood high on its perch in the sky, nearing the apex of its scale through the blue canvas. The rays reached out to the trees and grass, granting them a pretty glow as the light gave them new colours and shades of green and yellow, enveloping the little slice of nature in warmth and serenity. The clear water in the lake reflected the bright blue sky above, tracing the route of the clouds as they moved with the wind, the occasional shadow of a bird cutting through the reflection. The smooth surface of the water shattered as a pebble broke through, forming ripples before the water settled once more. Wade glared. He glared at everything - the sky; the plants; the water; the birds flying around; the people walking a bit too close to where he was sitting. He was not serene. He was angry and irritated and annoyed and tired. For all the praise and advice psychologists gave about watching nature to calm yourself down, Wade was feeling an overabundance of _not _being calm. A bird landed on the tree that he was sprawled under, singing its song and filling the air with melodious chirping. Wade twitched, reaching over to grab a stone nearby and throwing it into the pond with so loud a splash that the bird took off. _Five hours_. That was how long Wade Wilson had been sitting on the patch of grass he swore was now his property, watching the Sun go higher and higher up into the sky, listening to birds chirping and hurling stones at the pond as though he was finding a way to shatter the surface permanently. He swore he was going to kill whoever it was that decided his pick-up time. Then, something miraculous happened – Wade heard ringing. He froze, his hand aborting the motion of picking up one of the last stones nearby that was not somewhere at the bottom of the pond. He had been deceived before – hearing the blessed sound of a phone call only to realise that it had come from another device than his own. That had been particularly frustrating. Slowly, he reached for the little gadget beside him and almost broke down into tears of relief when he felt it vibrating. He hurried to pick up the call as the driver's voice came through the line.

"Mister Wilson, I am currently travelling to your previous drop-off point. ETA is ten minutes."

Wade sighed in relief, forgetting his previous vengeance to the driver as he acknowledged the unspoken command, hung up the phone - which he then promptly tossed into the pond - and teleported back to the motel.

* * *

Ten minutes later, a sleek, black car pulled up not too far from the mansion. The passenger door swung open as Wade emerged from the tree line, approaching the vehicle and checking that it was indeed the same driver before retreating back into the trees to retrieve his cargo along with his mark. He dumped the baggage into the trunk of the car before slamming it shut, carrying the girl bridal style and getting into the car. Once safely inside, Wade slammed the door shut and pulled out the silver briefcase he had opted not to put into the trunk. He withdrew one of the Propofol syringes and injected the girl with its contents before returning the empty syringe to the case, locking it and securing both himself as well as the girl to their respective seats. The driver watched from the rear-view mirror and after a moment's pause, reached over to the empty seat beside him to retrieve the metal cuff, handing it to Wade tentatively. Wade groaned and visibly rolled his eyes before pushing the driver's hand away. The man quickly withdrew from the contact and Wade smirked. Looks like having a reputation of killing whoever decided to cross you did have its perks after all. The man pulled his hand back where it was safely out of Wade's reach before turning back to face the mercenary, discomfort plain on his features.

"I am sorry Mister Wilson but I have orders to ensure that you put on this cuff."

Wade kept his face blank as he started an unofficial staring contest with the driver, neither willing to back down. Wade knew the man was not going to start driving until he got what he wanted but Wade was not exactly very fond of the stupid bracelet so he settled on his much more preferred alternative. Wade let a few moments pass to give the driver the subterfuge of safety before abruptly bursting forward toward the other man, both blades extended from his arms and stopping dangerously close to the man's jugular. The driver let out a yelp as he retreated as far back toward the window on his side as possible, putting as much distance as he could between him and the metal extensions. Wade withdrew his right hand, pulling the blade back into his arm before reaching his now free hand through the small space between the front door and the driver's seat and grabbing the driver with a neck hold. He pushed himself up closer to the seat as he brought his left hand with its blade up towards the driver's face and secured his position with the other hand. Then he leaned his head against the side of the driver's headrest and glared at him with mock anger and irritation.

"So… … You want me to put that metal thing on but I don't want to. You see, I don't have a very great liking for metal bands that look like they were stolen from a prison from like two centuries ago and that's going to be a problem for you. So, now I'm going to give you two choices. You can follow the orders from men that are _not_ currently here and are _not _being held at knife-point or you can leave me alone and get the glorious privilege of getting to keep your head attached to your body. So which one is it?" Wade announced in a sing-song voice before moving his blade closer to the man at a snail's pace. 1.67 seconds later, the man had raised both his arms up in a universal declaration of surrender and after Wade withdrew his blade, gone the extra mile to grab the metal cuff and shove it into the glove compartment. Wade snickered softly to himself before leaning back into his seat. After a moment's silence, he looked back up at the trembling driver before kicking the back of his seat.

"Drive!"

Not a moment had passed before the car's engine revved and it took off down the road.

* * *

He had no idea when he had fallen asleep but he was pulled very roughly out of it. The car had jerked violently, sending both Wade and his unconscious prisoner flying forward before being slammed back into their seats by the seatbelts. Wade groaned, scanning his surroundings as he sniffed and turned to look out the windscreen at the path before them. The branch of one of the trees that were planted along the sides of the road had spontaneously cracked and fallen right in front of the car, prompting the driver's violent reaction. Wade sighed before calmly unbuckling his seatbelt, opening the car door and stepping out into the cool evening air. He walked up to the huge branch, kicked it rather childishly before leaning down to hold onto it with both his hands and teleporting, taking the lump of wood with him. He returned a heartbeat later, an irritated set to his jaw as he stalked up to the car and slid back inside. The driver was slowly recovering from his shock via hyperventilation and after giving him a few moments, Wade kicked his seat again as the car came back to life. That was when he noticed it. A quiet sound, one that would have been easy to ignore if not for the fact that it was coming from a heavily-sedated girl that was you know, supposed to be silent. Wade turned to look at her apprehensively, part of his mind praying and hoping that he had imagined the disruption. He had not liked his previous rooming experience with his captive and most definitely did not want part two of whatever it was that had happened back in the motel room.

After a few moments, the girl lolled her head to the side as a groan, almost a whisper made of unintelligible sounds that were supposed to be words, escaped from her lips and without warning, an entire tree fell before them, blocking out their path as the driver swerved, now convinced that he would die of a heart attack by falling vegetation. Wade ignored the sudden jerk as he watched the girl. She murmured something again as with a shock, a heavy branch fell on the roof of the car, its weight forming a dent as the metal bent down, creaking under the newfound pressure. The walls on either side of the car bent slightly as yet another branch fell upon the abused vehicle, upping the weight and the now suddenly very present danger of the trio being crushed in the car under the weight of spontaneously falling branches. Wade however did notice that the roof of the car that was above the girl had suffered no attacks at all, focusing the risk of death by branch on the two males in the car. Wade cursed as he kicked the car door out, scrambling out of the vehicle as he started work on removing the debris from the roof. He repeated the procedure he had performed earlier on the fallen tree and returned to the car, going inside and lying on the seats on his back before bracing himself and kicking the top of the car with all his strength. Wade repeated the process until the roof became visibly less murderous and claustrophobic. He then took out one of his katanas, and hit the head of the still unconscious girl with the butt of it and returning it to its sheath. The only sound Wade heard after that was soft, high-pitched moaning from the driver in front of him that for the sake of the guy's probably already damaged well-being, he did not comment on.

After almost an hour more of driving, the sky had fallen into the clutches of night as the driver pulled up in a foreign location. Wade alighted from the vehicle, grabbing all his baggage before returning for the girl and heading to the helicopter that was right in the center of the open field. After Wade dumped everything inside, a sudden thought occurred to him and he backtracked to the car, retrieved the metal band from the glove compartment and headed back to the helicopter, patting the traumatised driver on the shoulder in passing. After his new pilot ran through his pre-flight checks, the chopper came to life, the blades turning and gradually picking up speed as the helicopter started a fairly steady lift-off. Wade strapped everything in place before heading to his seat and leaning back against the wall behind him, praying that nothing would fall out of the sky and hit the chopper on the way back.

*1 Propofol: A commonly used anaesthtic.

*2 Ritalin: A compound that has been tested on and has been speculated to be able to pull patients out of anaesthesia rapidly. Note: This drug is NOT yet used on humans. It has so far only been tested on animals. I just got it out of some research.

* * *

**Tell me what you think! :)**


	12. Chapter 11: Phoenix

**A/N: Hello! :) So I'm now barely holding onto the tightrope my life has been turning into so sorry for the delay **

**Thanks to my reviewer fandelivres: :D THANK YOU! :) It's great that you liked the chapter! :D You're awesome! :)**

**Thanks to my two new followers: .hae and willowjay! Thanks for following this story!**

**Thanks to all who have been reading/following this story! :D The support means a lot and I'll continue to work hard to improve in my writing and update more regularly :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Phoenix**

Wade ran a calloused hand over his face, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He groaned, glancing briefly around him as he turned to look from one side of the small helicopter to the other. When his head caught up to him and memories of the day before surfaced from the drunken abyss of sleep, Wade's attention immediately redirected itself to his fellow passenger who he had strapped down as far away from him as possible before fatigue had caught up with him. Wade shook his head, he must be getting old; he used to be able to go on for days at a time on missions without getting so much as a wink of sleep. His passenger was still soundly knocked out and deep in a drug-induced sleep. Wade kept an eye on her as he unlocked the buckle on his seatbelt - or the helicopter equivalent of it anyway - before rising swiftly from his seat. Even if the girl was asleep - or comatose in this case - Wade knew better than to deem her safe to be around of. She had proven that she definitely did not need to be awake or anywhere near returning to the land of the living really, to wreck havoc on the whole lot of them. Wade was not looking forward to part three. In fact, he wanted to be far, far away by the time part three made an appearance. He walked over to the girl and gently unbuckled her out of her seat before carrying her bridal style out of the helicopter. The vehicle had landed moments after he had first woken up and Wade grinned slightly as his tattered mind pulled up memories of his hope that there would not be random hazards dropping out of the sky. Considering that he had accomplished the impossible task of sleeping though the entire flight back and the helicopter was still in one piece, Wade figured that his prayers had been answered. Around him, the base personnel were gathering around the newly arrived helicopter. Wade spied a team of four individuals clothed in white lab coats coming forward to him from the distance, a gurney being pushed between them. Wade subconsciously pulled his captive slightly closer, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Guards were flooding the roof now, guns trained on the mercenary as the entourage ended with the grand - or really not so grand - entry of Stryker himself being escorted by Voodoo, the latter currently taking the form of Faith. Wade sighed.

"Wilson, you truly are the best at what you do."

"Why don't we just skip the formalities and jump to the part where you betray me and lock me up again."

Stryker stared for a moment but his attention no longer lay on Wade's face. His gaze had wandered downward and zeroed in on Wade's blatantly cuff-free wrists. Anger flashed across his eyes for the briefest of moments before shock took over. But that short moment was all Wade needed to read what was on Stryker's mind. To quote the man, he _was_ the best at what he did.

"Wilson-"

Wade took the partially formed statement as his cue to attack. He had known the moment the driver had told him to put the cuff back on - Stryker was not about to keep his end of the bargain. And if Stryker was about to exploit him or blackmail him or whatever, Wade would prefer less guards to deal with when he busted the hell out of the place. After all, striking early never hurt.

It happened in a split second. One moment, Wade was standing in front of Stryker with a nonchalant grin on his face and the next moment, he had disappeared with Jean, dumped her in the helicopter, and reappeared over the head of two guards who were standing close together. Before the guards had time to look up, they had both fallen to the ground with matching cuts over their jugulars.

Gunfire rained.

Wade disappeared once more, appearing behind another two guards before snapping the neck of the one who was closer to him with a sharp twist of his hands. His partner turned around to face him, only to be greeted with an arm around his neck and a powerful strike to the neck, collapsing his trachea. The guard fell to the ground, flailing like a dying fish before going still. Wade could feel the bullets of the remaining guards grazing his skin, quite a few of them achieving their goal and tearing through into flesh and muscle. Wade did not even flinch. Instead, he teleported again, staying high up in the air, giving the wounds time to close as his body healed and the shells of the bullets fell back to the ground. Once he was reasonably fixed up, Wade resumed his attack. He drew the bullet-loaded gun he had chosen to keep on his self and fired three shots. Three guards fell. He returned the gun to its holster before drawing the twin katanas from their sheaths on his back, teleporting back down to the ground and sending one of his swords at a guard standing not far from Stryker's position. The blade flew true, going straight through the neck of its victim. Voodoo by now had already used Faith's ability to turn one of his arms into something that resembled a shield lined with spikes, protecting Stryker. Wade almost laughed; he had seen the ring on Stryker's hand. Were they really that stupid? Wade stalked forward toward Stryker's position, rapidly teleporting as he walked to let the bullets whizz pass - or rather, through - him. He yanked the sword out of the dead guard and shot a quick glare at Stryker and his bodyguard before spinning around and sending both his blades into the necks of two of the guards standing closest to him. The entourage had moved forward when Wade had approached Stryker and that made them easier to hit, much easier. Wade then drew the blades in his arms and teleported into the heart of the wall of guards, spinning with both his blades facing outward and halving the remaining strength of the guard number. The ground was littered in bodies, Wade's blades stained with blood. Blood he would never be able to wash away. The remaining guards moved to Stryker's position. That was when Voodoo rose. He motioned to the guards as they surrounded Stryker and stepped forward. Voodoo smiled and Wade felt sick. The smile was familiar and he was suddenly filled with the desire to wipe it clean off his face. Voodoo bent over as his body changed. Teeth became fangs, hands became claws and skin became fur. Wade watched on as he was suddenly faced with a large wolf, covered in rusty brown fur and just about the size of a horse. The knot in Wade's stomach tightened even more. It was the same animal he had fought a lifetime ago, the same fur, the same teeth, the same growl that was emanating deep within the beast's throat. It was Faith. Wade stood rooted to the spot, his breathing speeding up more than it ever did when he was out on a mission, when he was out on a kill. The wolf growled, shifting its weight here and there and baring its teeth at him. Its tail was straight out behind him and the fur on the back of its neck stood on edge.

Then it lunged.

Wade rolled just in time as the wolf flew past him, landing and digging its claws into the ground to pull itself to a stop, turning to face him once more. Wade's eyes wandered to the cement ground of the roof top. There were ten straight lines with jagged edges cut into it. Wade looked a little to the left and spied the other eight. He cursed under his breath. The wolf lunged again and Wade dodged, rolling in the other direction. The wolf stared at him and at that moment, Wade paused. Something at the back of his mind went on alarm as his mind waged war against itself. Wade shook his head. It was not her. She was somewhere in the facility, being used to blackmail him. It was not her. But at that one moment, staring back at the familiar emerald green eyes of the large beast, Wade hesitated. And that one moment was all it took. The wolf bounded towards him and Wade did not move, eyes looking yet not seeing, his mind having had wandered far, far away. In a split second, he was pinned to the ground, the giant canine holding its jaws - lined with razor sharp teeth – just millimetres away from cutting into his neck. Wade could feel its breathing on the back of his neck as the hair stood on end. The next moment, someone had locked a cuff onto his right hand. Wade rolled his eyes, wondering briefly exactly how many of those damned contraptions Stryker had. The wolf abruptly moved away from him as something hard hit him on the head. Wade did not fight the darkness that followed, instead, he embraced it.

* * *

There was a light hanging over him, assaulting his eyes as he regained consciousness. Wade shifted his weight, turning his head from one side to another. Everything hurt. He had no idea when he had apparently received a beating or if his aches had originated from lying on a stiff bed for the past who-knows-how-long. All he knew was that he was not in the holding room. As his vision returned to normal and he had at least half the control over himself, Wade propped himself up on one elbow, scanning his surroundings. He almost fell back down again.

He was in a cell.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed and getting up to his feet, Wade groaned. This could not be happening. The entire situation was becoming somewhat laughable to be honest. He himself had put more than half the previous inhabitants in this place. Karma sucks. Approaching the bars slowly, Wade stuck a hand out, only to withdraw the limb when it was met with a sharp jolt of electricity. He should have seen it coming. He then looked to the ceiling, mumbling a quick curse when he saw that not only was the entrance of the air vent small to the point where he guessed even a mouse would have trouble squeezing in, it was even bolted shut. We plopped back down to the bed before bending over to examine the legs - bolted to the ground. He looked around for windows – no such luck. He stared around for any other pieces of furniture. There were none. He wanted to yell in frustration. What did he do in his previous life that made him deserve this?! He wanted to do something, to break something, kill someone, just do _something_ so the situation would not seem so darn disastrous. Instead, he simply plopped back down on his too-stiff bed and sighed for a very long time.

* * *

Anyone that has been locked up in a maximum security cell with nothing but a bed would know that there truly isn't anything to do in there but sleep. When you woke up, they fed you and when you were done eating and have exhausted your new-found energy in the form of doing all sorts of stunts in the petite hell of a room, you went back to sleep. They let you out on bathroom breaks every once in awhile and if you happen to be feeling ambitious, you could attempt, and if you are good enough, succeed in snapping a few necks and freaking out the guard crew before you were dumped back in the damned cell. Wade _was_ good. He had counted. He has been in holding for four days now and by then had already killed fifteen guards using a wide assortment of ways that he thought about during his increasingly frequent periods of insomnia when he would lie on the bed, pant for a few short moments from whatever stunt he was attempting to do to break some law in Physics before his healing factor coupled with a life full of physical training kicked in and his breathing and heart rate returned to normal. Then, if he was lucky, he would drift off into sleep. If he was not, and Wade doubted the recent incidents proved that he was high on the luck factor, he would simply lie there and figure out at least twenty different new ways to snap a neck from all the different perspectives: above, below and all around the circumference of the neck. He would decide which vertebrae to hit, the angle when he hit it and the force he would have to use. And after coming to the conclusion that there truly was an infinite number of ways to kill someone by neck snap, he would move on to all sorts of other colourful methods he could employ using his available arsenal to kill someone. Recently, the methods were getting more complicated than Wade would care to truly use. Then, if he still could not fall asleep, he would gather all the new ideas he had come up with and list them out in his head according to their efficiency. He liked that step; it was particularly boring _and_ time consuming. He would then, if he managed to finish listing them in order, pick a few that he would try out the next time they let him out for bathroom breaks and then merge the new list with his existing one. If all these failed and he still could not sleep then there was no harm in returning to step one. Rinse and repeat.

* * *

Wade opened his eyes to a new morning and extended one blade from his arm, etching a mark into the wall parallel to his bed to mark out the number of days that had passed. It stood beside his other list, the one that recorded his total number of kills. _Fifteen days, fifty-six kills_. His kill count was steadily decreasing over the days. After the initial massacre, the security on him, if even possible, was raised even more. Now, before he was let out of his cell to go to the bathroom, he first had to reach both hands out of the slot in the door where the guards on duty would bind his wrists together. After that, he would be told to kneel on the ground and the guards would open the door with at least three of them pointing their guns at him while another two came forward to bind his legs together by the ankles. Well, Wade being Wade, still found ways to kill but with every kill, the chain between the cuffs got shorter and shorter and to date, he might as well be hopping instead of walking. He had to figure out a way out of here and soon because by this rate, the guards were going to find a way to get a mobile jail cell available and move him in that. It was on this day then, the fifteenth day of Wade's forced captivity that something really _did_ happen.

It began after breakfast, and after Wade had completed his seventeen sets of various exercises. He had somehow succeeded in killing yet one more person during his morning break and was etching the mark on the wall, preparing to try his hand at returning to sleep when he heard a distinct tap from the other side of the wall. He instinctively looked up, aborting the motion of carving the mark in the concrete. He stood up before tentatively approaching the wall and pressing one ear up against it, part of his mind believing that he had imagined the sound. Then, when he was just about to pull away, he heard it again - two short, sharp raps, as if someone were knocking on a door, seeking entry. He pulled back slightly before pressing his ear to the concrete once more and in a move that he later decided was born out of idiocy, he lifted his hand up and balled it into a fist, knocking on the wall. There was an immediate response as three sharp taps sounded. Wade suddenly felt like the two of them, whoever the other party was, were communicating through the knocking, like each tap meant something different. Abruptly, he stepped back, staring at the wall in apprehension before he spoke.

"Who are you?"

Wade did not bother to raise his volume, did not bother to even try to make it easier for the sound to travel through the wall and reach whoever it was on the other side. He simply knew somehow that they would hear. For a moment, there was nothing but silence, no tapping, nothing. Then Wade watched in shock as a single cut appeared on the wall, slowly growing and etching itself to form a question mark. Wade felt something in his chest tighten but he continued speaking, as if his recent lack of proper conversation with anyone was causing him to lose his sanity.

"Why did they get you for?"

Once again a mark etched itself into the wall, dust falling onto the ground. Wade coughed. _THEY DID NOT CATCH ME._ He frowned; the mysterious force – which was what he decided to call it all of a sudden – was not making sense.

"Then why in the world are you here?"

The marks appeared again, slightly slower this time. The dust was really starting to bother him now. Wade coughed again. _TO PROTECT HER._ Wade stared at the words in the wall, a million questions bursting into his head at once.

"Protect who?"

Wade waited but nothing happened. There were no new marks, no response. Spontaneously, Wade blurted out his next question.

"Protect her from what?"

Wade saw the first cut and it moved even slower this time as if putting more emphasis into each word, into each stroke. _THEM. HIM. _The writing paused for a moment but Wade could already see that the next cut was made, so he waited. The carving started again, so slow this time that Wade read out each letter as it appeared.

_Y-O-U._

Wade felt his breath catch in his throat. He asked his next question, his volume softer as he tried to hide the tremor that threatened to take root in his voice. People were not a problem, mutants he could deal with, but ghosts? Not so much.

"What do you mean?"

There was no writing this time. The room shook, the single bulb hanging from the ceiling swinging from one side to the next as it flickered. Wade grabbed hold of the bed end board, feeling his jaw drop as the force replied. Hundreds of cuts were being made to the wall, at the side of it that Wade used to count his kills and with every cut, Wade somehow knew who it was as random flashes of images flickered in his mind's eye, coinciding with every time the bulb flickered and the room went dark. Two hundred and thirty-four cuts later, the wall added three more as the images flashed before him. _Voodoo. Emily. Stryker. _Then the world calmed, the room stood still and the light stopped swinging and flickering. Then Wade stared in a terror and fear more great than he had ever felt before as one last cut was made, slowly growing longer and longer to match all the others.

Wade's blood ran cold.

Then without warning, the wall erupted into dust and smoke as all the debris from the carving burst right at him in one blow, a billow of grey smoke encroaching on the room and heading straight for him. Wade started coughing as he went on the ground, the smoke swallowing him. One final question leaked into his mind. "_What_ are you?"

The wall responded as if satisfied with the question, spelling out its answer one letter at a time.

_T-H-E P-H-O-E-N-I-X._

Wade coughed.

* * *

**Tell me what you think! :)**


	13. Chapter 12: Witch Sisters

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay. By the way, there really is something wrong with FanFiction TT The last chapter seems to have mixed up the names a bit. Sorry to xo . Sarang . hae (I think it thinks it's a link so I separated the full stops -.-") and thank you for following this story! :)**

**Thank you to fandelivres for the review! Haha~ I initially did not intend to leave it like that but who can resist a good cliff-hanger. XD Anyway, I'm so happy that you liked it! :D You're AWESOME :D**

**Thank you to RosePhoenix18274 and Suze Nora for follwing this story! As well as RosePhoenix18274 once more for adding it to your favourites list! :D You guys are AWESOME! ^^**

**Thank you to all who have been reading/following this story! I love you all ^^**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 12: Witch Sisters**

Wade coughed, his lungs burning for air. He rolled onto his side, his body forcibly expelling all the contents in his stomach onto the floor. His throat burned from the acid as he continued dry heaving. Wade's eyes watered as he continued to cough, rolling once more to scramble onto his hands and legs. His fingers scratched against the rough fabric and he paused mid-cough, alarms going off in his head. He had collapsed on the floor. He was sure of it. The new revelation gave Wade new courage and he took a deep breath, coming to the conclusion that the air was dust-free. He glanced around, his attention pulled to the blade that was drawn from his arm. He looked up and true to his suspicion, the wall was clean, no ghost-writings, no Phoenix, nothing. All except his two lists, the fifty-seventh mark on his kill count half drawn, as if he had fallen asleep. Wade climbed off the bed and the moment his feet hit the ground, he worked up a small cloud of dust. He looked down at his feet and almost died. The ground was covered in dust - ash. Wade let his eyes wander, his shell-shocked mind trying to accept the scene before him. His gaze landed on a single spurt of colour, stark against the plain grey background. It was a feather. It boasted a glowing gradient of red on the outermost edges that slowly transformed into a brilliant shade of yellow as it neared the center, shimmering in the faint light from the single bulb hanging from the ceiling.

It was a Phoenix feather.

Wade tentatively bent down, and reached out his hand slowly as if he were afraid that the feather would burn him. It was light and the moment Wade lifted it from the ground, it shattered into dust, falling to the ground as ash. Wade pulled his hand back as if he _had_ been burned before rising quickly from the ground and climbing up onto the bed to distance himself as much as possible from the sea of dust. Then he heard it, that same calming and smooth voice calling out to the world. _Jean?_

Wade looked up at the bars of his cell as a thousand alarms spontaneously went off. The cell doors burst open, as the sprinkler system activated. _Someone must have flipped the master control lever. _Wade swiftly hopped off his perch and ghosted through the cell block, knowing that this may well be the only chance he might get to get the hell out of this place. But first he had to get the cuff off of him and find the sisters. That was easier said than done. As he ran past rows upon rows of cells, he quickly realised that the place had been redecorated and he really had no idea where he was going. As he turned a corner, he spied an elevator that he guessed led up to the main levels and immediately headed towards it. As the distance between them steadily closed, the elevator dinged as the doors lugged open, revealing an army of guards armed to the teeth with weaponry and protective armoury. Wade immediately ducked into the cell next to him, lining himself up against the wall with his back to the elevator where they would not see him. He waited with bated breath for the sound of footsteps coming in his direction but none did and instead, as Wade discovered when he poked his head out, they were headed down the other corridor. Wade swiftly left his corner as he re-entered the corridor, curiosity getting the better of him as he changed his course, heading after the guards. The aisle led to two metal gates, each stationed a certain distance from the other, guarding a lone metal door that did not look too far off from a safe. Recognition hit. It was the unspeakable cell - intimately dubbed by himself and the rest of Team X a millennia ago, the one that made a stay in maximum security seem like a vacation in a five-star hotel. He had only been in there once, when he had picked the short straw and had to head down there to deal with a mutant that had caused enough trouble to wear down the combined patience of about thirty-seven Strykers.

To be honest, Wade would not have called the room a cell. It was more like a carefully designed psychiatric ward. Every surface of it from floor to ceiling was padded, not to mention it had absolutely no furniture or windows, with the added precaution of the air vent being separated from the main room by a tunnel that went into the ceiling - the entrance of which was very helpfully, barred, not that anyone could climb that high with nothing to stand on to reach the ceiling in the first place. Yes, it was a psychiatric ward, a psychiatric ward that just happened to be placed in a safe and was barricaded by two iron gates that each needed about three keys to open. It was the kind of place most would probably envision to be where the biggest and the greatest of the biggest and the greatest psychos would probably end up spending the rest of their lives. Only, their inhabitants were not psychos. They were mutants that happened to be capable, if given the right opportunity, of blowing the entire base along with the land it was standing on back to the stone edge and then probably blow _that_ up as well. The guys whose doors were never allowed open even if a nuclear bomb had happened to land on the base and everyone was running for their lives. Because it was better that they were dead than to be let out into the world to unleash havoc on all mankind. Or at least that was what Stryker had said.

Wade watched as the guards lined up in front of the door, guns raised and targeted at the sole remaining protection that they had from whatever it was that the cell housed. One of them lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth as he spoke into it, probably receiving orders from someone higher up. After a few short moments, in which Wade moved to get a better view, the guard motioned to the others as he slid open a slot in the door to look inside. The moment the action was initiated, a series of events occurred, all in what was seemingly a split second. First, the guard looked through the slot. Then, he abruptly froze in place and fell back onto the ground, eyes wide and unseeing. Next, there was a deafening creak as the metal door moaned in protest before it was sent flying off its hinges and straight into the first line of guards, crushing them. Dust rose up in the air as the silhouette of a lone figure emerged, its long hair clearly visible even through the cloud of smoke. The guards fired but the moment the first shot was fired, the silhouette raised its hand, holding its palm out to them. What would have been a meaningless gesture stopped each and every one of the bullets in their path, suspending them in mid-air. The smoke was starting to settle now. The figure clenched its hand into a fist and turned the hand around so that the palm was now facing up. The bullets turned around, the sharp tips now facing the guards that fired them. The figure opened its hand again as the bullets shot back down the path they had just travelled. Some of the guards had already realised what was happening and got out of the way, their hands instinctively coming up to protect their heads. The others were not so lucky, killed by their own bullets which pierced through their vests as if they were made of paper. Wade ducked as stray bullets flew past him, lodging themselves in the opposite wall. Then, he heard the voice again. _Jean? Jean where are you? Why are you blocking me out?_ Wade frowned, as he turned back to look at the open safe. The smoke had settled and standing in the midst of the bloodied bodies and shell-shocked guards was indeed, Jean Grey. Only, it was not the same Jean that he had captured. This one was the one that he had met back in the motel room, with hair that was blowing together with an invisible wind, the skin around her eyes coloured black with the surge of blood and eyes that did not look human. The remaining guards scrambled backwards as their adversary took one step forward. One of the guards fired, his reaction born out of pure fear and adrenaline. Jean turned to look at him. The bullet fell to the ground, as if it had hit an invisible wall. The redhead cocked her head to one side as the man spontaneously screamed.

All hell broke loose.

One by one, the man started yelling, firing their weapons in a futile effort to escape whatever it was that was tormenting them. Then they shattered. Some of them had been crawling; others were pushing themselves backwards and away from the homicidal girl. But all of them simply _broke_. As if they were made of porcelain instead of flesh and bone, fading away into a thousand pieces and falling to the ground as dust, ash. Wade had seen enough. By now, the voice that he was sure was in everyone's heads was screaming, yelling at the only person that could block it. The girl walked forward, her face devoid of all emotion, her red hair resembling fire as it blew out behind her. _The Phoenix_. Wade bolted back down the path he had taken, hoping that the girl would be more interested in heading for the lift instead of extinguishing everything in the entire base. As Wade made the cross-road, he heard the distinct ding of the elevator as the doors opened once more. Contrary to the first thought that had popped up in his mind, it did not contain more guards sent down to die. Instead, there were only four people in the lift and Wade did not know if he was happy or upset by their presence. Professor Xavier, the two adult mutants he had fought back at the corridor of the mansion and the boy that could shoot optic blasts from his eyes. Wade ignored them and kept going before turning back before he hit the corner. Jean was now in front of them, standing there in all her fiery glory as the Professor and herself engaged in what the outside world would view as a staring competition.

"Jean, let me in!"

This was the first time that Wade had ever heard the Professor raise his voice by even the slightest decibel.

"Get out of my head."

The girl cocked her head to the side again, her eyes narrowing as she focused. The Professor put one hand to his temple as the boy abruptly moved toward her, waving his arms and shouting at her. But his words were lost to Wade in the shrill ringing of the alarms. The base shook. Then Jean let out a shrill, high-pitched scream and collapsed onto the ground, hands around her head as all the lights down the corridor blew out, drowning the room in darkness. Wade blinked as his eyes adjusted quickly. The Professor fell as Havok and Banshee instinctively came forward to help him. The boy on the other hand went up to the fallen Jean. Wade watched as Havok broke off from the trio and lifted Jean up in a fireman carry while Banshee pushed the Professor back toward the elevator as the shocked boy followed after them. Wade waited for them to leave before emerging. With everyone in the floor most likely dead or gone and the room drowned in darkness, he could not help but feel a little uncomfortable.

"I've been looking for you."

The voice almost instigated a heart attack as Wade spun around, instinctively attempting to teleport which earned him a sharp jolt of electricity. He doubled over before quickly recovering and looking around the room. Voodoo stepped out of the shadows. Wade did not know how he recognised him since he was not taking the form of anyone he knew but he just knew somewhere in his gut that it was him. Voodoo reached a hand into his pants pocket and produced a key. He shook it in front of himself while maintaining eye contact with Wade before tossing it to him. Wade caught the projectile easily and looked up at the other man in confusion. Voodoo did not say anything; he simply pointed at his own wrist and nodded at Wade. Wade frowned before testing the key on the cuff. It worked and the metal device finally came free.

"There is another way out. Just keep following this corridor down. There'll be a blast door at the end but I assume you can find a way around it."

Voodoo turned to leave before Wade called out to him.

"What's the catch?"

He turned his head back and rolled his eyes.

"There is no _catch_ Wilson. If it is not clear enough, I hate Stryker and Stryker hates me. End of story."

"Where are they?"

Voodoo turned away from him. When he replied, his voice was low.

"They're gone. You can't help them now. So leave while you still can."

Wade shook his head at no one in particular before continuing.

"Where are they and if you hate Stryker, why did you protect him on the roof?"

Voodoo had turned completely back to face him now, a slight trace of anger evident in his eyes.

"I don't know what you are talking about. They are not here. They're with Stryker probably still upstairs in the main levels. If you have half your sanity left, I really think you should leave."

"Sorry, I'm not exactly known for having an overabundance of sanity."

Wade turned briefly to jab the button of the elevator before returning his attention to Voodoo. Voodoo shook his head, as if he were trying to explain a very simple concept to a little kid.

"You can't win Wilson. I've tried."

"I'll take my chances."

The elevator dinged for the third time as the doors opened. Wade stepped inside and pressed the button for the main floor. Voodoo seemed to accept his decision before shouting out.

"Your weapons are in the briefing room. Main floor."

Wade grinned at the other man as the elevator doors started to close and at the last moment, he shouted out a quick thanks to Voodoo as he started to rise.

* * *

The moment he was let out of the little metal box, Wade was sprinting. True to the tip-off, Wade found his weapons in the briefing room. He strapped the gun holsters to his legs and strapped on his twin katanas. Then he headed out to the main door, looking for the two sisters. The entrance had been blown out, probably caused by the four mutants that had passed through here to get their friend back and standing in the gigantic gaping hole were Emily and Faith. They were heading out of the compound and into a large open space. The area was lighted by huge spotlights and fenced off. The alarms were not as loud as they were back in the cells and for that, Wade was grateful. He felt relief surge through him as the sisters continued walking out onto the cement ground, no one even bothering to try to stop them. He teleported in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Hey! How did you guys get out? Come on we need to go."

Faith's eyes narrowed and that one look was enough to cause a knot to form in the pit of his stomach.

"Wilson."

The next second, spikes had emerged from Faith's right forearm as she sent them flying straight at Wade.

* * *

**Tell me what you think :)**


	14. Chapter 13: Redemption

**A/N: OH MY GOSH, I AM SO SORRY! D: Life has been utter hell for me the past couple of weeks and I have barely even found time to sleep, let alone write. But after spending my bus rides to school typing on my phone and all sorts of other new meanings of maximising time, I've finally finished this with one final stay up into the night. ._. Anyway, this chapter is like _the_ longest I have written for this story so I hope that makes up for something... So forgive me? *insert sheepish look* Please? Pretty please? :X **

**On a far more important side note, this is the last chapter for this story! There will be an epilogue that I'll try to get up ASAP that probably won't be as long as other chapters to make a nice conclusion to everything. :)**

**Thank you to fandelivres for the review! Haha~ It's kind of ironic that this chapter will be the end though. O.O But yepp, it's pretty long. And there's still an epilogue :D Thanks A LOT for all the reviews!~ Your support was awesome and I can't thank you enough! :D *sends virtual hug***

**Thanks to A-La-Folie448 for adding this story to your favorites and following it as well as Athalia97 for following this story! :D**

**Finally, a great, big, giant hug to all who have put up with my inconsistent updating and who have been following this so far! LOVE YOU ALL FROM THE VERY BOTTOM OF MY HEART! :D**

**P.S. To UKJ, if you are still reading this or see this X years later, I've tried to address your question in this chapter :)**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Chapter 13: Redemption**

Wade rolled and the strike missed its target. He swiftly teleported away from the duo, landing in his stance and looking between them in shock. Emily stared back at him with glazed over eyes before producing a walkie-talkie.

"Sir, Wilson has escaped from confinement. Should we apprehend him?"

Wade felt his jaw drop as Faith narrowed her eyes, thick, green shoots emerging from the ground before they wrapped themselves around him, trapping him.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Wade shouted at neither of the sisters in particular as Emily received her instructions. She turned to her younger sister and nodded as Faith moved toward Wade, her face betraying no emotion. Wade was frozen, not knowing whether or not to retaliate. When Faith got close enough, one of the vines loosened its hold on him to expose an arm as she put her hand to the skin. Wade immediately regretted his decision to _not_ teleport as he felt his energy sap away before darkness enveloped him.

* * *

It started when he heard voices. Wade groaned as he attempted to move, the skin on his arm protesting against the motion as it threatened to rip. He sighed as his vision returned to him. He was being held upright by thick branches that grew from the earth below the cemented ground. As if in response to his waking, the grip of the vines tightened. _What was it with girls and killer plants?_ Wade stopped his futile struggle and his shoulders sagged. He would get out when he had to. For now, he would just wait and see.

Standing not too far from him were the sisters, acting very much like guards though he was fairly sure that they knew that he was awake. Finally, irritation got the better of him and he yelled at them to get their attention. Emily cocked her head to one side as a form of response while Faith did not bother to make any physical acknowledgement of his outburst at all, choosing instead to ignore it. Wade rolled his eyes, as he started bombarding the sisters with random comments of everything and anything he could think of.

"Hey! What's going on?! Are you done ignoring me? Hey Em! Does Stryker ever let you eat cheese? Random question yes but I'm just curious. Or pancakes? Or waffles? How about potato chips? You my friend are missing out on the essence that is life. Hey guys! Why did the chicken cross the road? Okay, who hasn't heard that one before? Sorry that was lame. Okay how about knock-knock jokes? You guys heard any good knock-knock jokes? Knock, knock! … … Hey! You're supposed to say 'Who's there?'! You two are no fun at all. Okay, okay, how about blonde jokes? A blonde walked into- Wait, you're both brunettes so you would not get the whole poetic irony. I'm sorry, I think that was actually quite mean. Like who in the world came up with the idea of judging people's intelligence by their hair colour anyway? How's that any different from discrimination?! Are you guys even listening to me? Hello! Okay now this is just rude."

"Wilson! To what pleasure do I owe that I can now watch you tied up now?"

Stryker had apparently finally decided to make an appearance. Wade sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward. Then a sudden thought occurred to him – _if Faith is here and not in the cylindrical tube being threatened with a needle filled with Heaven-knows-what, and Stryker is also very conveniently here, then… …_

Wade teleported, easily escaping from his makeshift prison and reappeared directly above Stryker, blades drawn and ready. He dropped down on the man, aiming for his jugular. He had no time to make this kill the epic, long and painful one that Stryker deserved but what was important now was that he killed him. The older man looked at him in what could have been called shock but before Wade was able to get his blade anywhere near the guy, he had been thrown upward by air resistance before being painfully slammed back to the ground by a sudden surge of gravity. His jaw hit the cement hard, pain running through the bone as Wade held back a groan, turning his head to the side to prevent further injury and to allow the new wound to heal. Stryker's shock was quickly replaced with a smug expression, as if he had known that his zombie bodyguards would protect him. Wade rolled his eyes again, it seemed like the gesture had become awfully common for him nowadays.

Stryker chuckled and Wade squeezed his eyes shut, trying and failing to visualize happy things in his head before he had a second go at separating Stryker's head from Stryker's body. It failed when Emily repeated her stunt and Wade's almost healed chin suffered another harsh blow, possibly fracturing it properly this time. Wade groaned.

"I done gut it Tryker, why droo you kit mutans 'round if you hae 'em so muck?"

Wade's words slurred over one another as his body naturally attempted to allow him to speak without causing further injury to his abused jaw. Stryker frowned at him and Wade narrowed his eyes, swallowing the saliva that had began to accumulate in his mouth and pausing to allow his jaw to heal up some more before starting again.

"I said, 'I don't get it Stryker, why do you keep mutants around if you hate them so much?'!"

Wade was quickly becoming impatient, his question abruptly becoming an exclamation as it reached its end. Stryker stared at him as if it were the dumbest question he had ever heard and Wade attempted to lift his head off the ground to help his healing jaw, but quite predictably, failed.

"Who better to kill the enemy than the enemy itself?"

Wade sighed, blinking and moaning in mounting frustration. Count on Stryker to pick such an inappropriate time to _attempt_ to be cryptic.

"Mutants have been around for so long. Some call them the next phase of humanity; others call them the products of evolution, survival of the fittest. As for myself, I prefer to call them a weapon. You see Wade, what I had hoped to accomplish with you was to create the ultimate soldier, a weapon that could not be defeated even by _your_ kind. What purpose is there in the deer attempting to best the lion? It would be wiser for her to incite the lions to fight amongst themselves, ultimately bringing about their own end."

"Did you really just call yourself a deer?" Wade murmured, incredulous, as Stryker ignored him, as per usual.

"But Wade, you failed us all and I now know why. You are the perfect mercenary, the ultimate weapon, but the procedure we were employing previously took away the most important thing for a killer – instinct. You were nothing but a puppet, being pulled along without any control of yourself and that is why you lost. With this," he paused and gestured to his two brain-washed bodyguards, "there can be a new race - mutants that can be controlled, and yet keep their base instincts, used to their fullest potential for the benefit of mankind. Humanity fears what it cannot understand. I plan to take away their fear but in doing that I must first create a weapon that even the enemy cannot defeat - themselves. I had been wrong before, the key to victory does not lie in the strongest fighter or the fastest runner, it lies in the exploitation of the enemy's weakness, to each one, specific. In my quest to regain you, you have brought me something far more valuable - your friend. The power to remember and replicate the biology she comes in contact with, the power to discover every strength and every weakness and to alter it accordingly to defeat the opponent. _That_ is evolution, spontaneous, immediate and deadly." Stryker announced, spreading his arms out in front of him as if he were preaching to a crowd. "She will be the next step. Imagine Wilson! Imagine an entire army of bio-kinetic weapons, capable of adapting to every situation. They would be unstoppable, undefeated wherever they go! And I would hold the button in my hand; I would be their master. And with this, I shall rid the world of this filthy race once and for all!"

Wade sighed, exasperated, as he attempted to bring his hands together to applaud, aborting the motion when he noted that he would sooner break the bones in his arm than bring them anywhere closer to one another.

"Stryker, hard to break this to you but it's official dude. You've lost it."

Wade did not bother resisting the gravitational hold anymore. It was getting too tiring. Stryker turned his gaze back onto him, his eyes wide and tinted with the slightest bit of crazy. Wade could not help himself and started up again.

"Okay, dude. You need help, like now. I know this really good psychiatric ward that's not that far away from here. Actually, it's just downstairs but it'll be really, really conducive for you. It's like padded and stuff so you can just vent all your frustrations and scream your diabolical plan out to the world as much as you want and I promise you will feel _so_ much better. Just get help, seriously."

Stryker stared at him, almost unseeing as he abruptly straightened up again, his eyes growing steely.

"You don't believe me? You were my first masterpiece Wilson, I had thought that you would ultimately be the spearhead of the revolution but I know now that I cannot let failed subjects live. Witness the true power of the final weapons."

Stryker declared his intense pride in his plan before motioning to his two bodyguards, now turned attack dogs, and turning back around to the destroyed base, the tail of his jacket blowing out lightly with the wind. Emily and Faith walked forward together, the promise of death evident in their eyes. Wade felt the hold on him loosen as he immediately bounded back up to his feet, drawing his blades. He let out a deep breath of air as he attempted to clear his mind. This would be the final fight.

* * *

Wade lunged, drawing and aiming both his blades at each of the sisters, a part of his brain just beginning to question how he should go about taking them down without potentially killing them. His worries, it seemed, were meaningless when Emily sent him flying in the opposite direction, causing him to drop his weapons. Wade executed a swift back flip in the air, putting his hands to the ground and digging his feet in, slowing and eventually stopping him in his wayward journey. He looked up at the two of them as Emily stopped in her journey forward. She was after all, more effective from a distance. Faith on the other hand, sauntered forward. She exploded with a sudden burst of inhuman speed, flying straight at Wade who teleported out of the way at the very last moment. What Wade had not expected was that she teleported after him. He reappeared high up above the ground, reusing his old techniques. Faith appeared right next to him, her eyes glowing a familiar deep black - John's eyes - for the shortest of moments before she sent him flying to the ground with more force than would have been possible for her size with the additional help of pumped up gravity.

Wade smashed through the cement, forming a human shaped crater in the field as dust and fragments were sent flying through the air. Any that had been flying toward the sisters were swiftly sent off their paths by a few swings of Emily's hand. Faith landed easily on her feet, continuing onward towards him. Wade groaned, a sharp pain surging through him, from his lower back all the way up his spine, burning every time he tried to move. He was fairly sure that his head had taken the blow pretty harshly as well; his spinning vision was accompanied by the constant throbbing of his skull. The rock slab that he had rested his head upon was sticky and wet now, a layer of blood having had covered the rough surface. A small part of Wade's muddled mind attempted to register the fact that there were footsteps, the owner of which was heading straight toward him. Wade lifted his head off the ground by just the slightest bit, his already spinning vision sending him into a vomit-inducing tornado ride. He let his head fall back onto the rock, wincing, as the blurry figure of Faith stood over him on the edge of the crater. She cocked her head to one side before raising her right hand, slowly turning it into a wicked blade with serrated sides, all made out of good old keratin. She stared at him for just a moment, and even in his horrid condition, Wade could see the hesitance. There was still hope. Just as his vision had dropped down to seeing about three Faiths instead of an entire circle of them, Faith finally attempted an attack, raising the blade and getting ready to deliver the final stroke. Wade blinked as she struck and then at the very last moment, just before the makeshift weapon reached skin, Wade's vision merged into one and the incessant throbbing of his head faded away. He grasped the moment of clarity like it was water in a parched desert and at that one moment, he found enough focus and teleported. The blade sliced through air as Wade's form reappeared high above the playing ground once more. Faith looked up at her escaped prey but this time, she opted not to follow. Instead she simply sent a sideways glance at her older sister as Emily turned to look at the airborne Wade. She narrowed her eyes and Wade felt himself plunging to the ground but this time, he did not allow it. Before he could fall, he teleported and appeared at another point of the field at a higher altitude. Emily tried again but after a series of failed attempts, was growing quickly frustrated. Faith abruptly looked at her sister and sat down on the ground, putting both hands palm down beside her as Emily raised the gravitational force of the entire field. High above in the air, Wade felt the pull change and smiled.

The entire field was sucking everything down now and Wade seized the opportunity. He teleported one last time above Emily, dropping down on her like an eagle on its prey. The focus it was taking the girl to keep the gravitational force up caused her to look up too late as Wade hit the ground, pulling her down with him by the neck. Years of experience and training made knocking her out an easy task from there. Now it was just him and Faith. The younger mutant stood up from her spot on the ground, looking at her unconscious sister. But there was no emotion in her eyes, as if none of what she was seeing was real. Faith slowly walked forward as Wade blocked her path to her sister, knowing full well that the bio-kinetic was more than capable of healing her. But it was not Emily that she had been tasked to kill and like anyone who had had their will taken from them, she does not get the right to choose. She stalked towards Wade, her eyes turning black for half a second before she teleported behind him, grabbing him by the neck. Wade stopped the blow at the last second, managing to get his hand in between her arm and his jugular and shifted his grip on it, twisting the appendage to force her to turn. Faith followed the motion, her back now to him before, in a true show of flexibility, rolled herself out of the hold and fell into a slide, attempting to kick Wade's legs from under him. The mercenary jumped over the sweep but released her hand as he flipped backwards just as Faith got back on her feet. She stared at him intently before lunging, her eyes turning somewhat grey, a shade that was lighter than that of John's. Wade held out both arms to block the hit but was not met with impact like he had expected but something sharp – claws. Or rather, as he realised when he looked up at his attacker, nails. _Victor._ Faith retreated from her attack, digging her nails into the ground and in an act of true Victor behaviour, bared her teeth – now grown fangs – at him.

"Seriously? Are you kidding me?!"

Wade yelled in exasperation as he tried to ignore the slowly fading sting on his arms. Faith lunged, going on all fours at a surprisingly high speed before launching herself off and at him with her clawed hands spread out toward him, aiming completely to kill. Wade teleported, allowing her to continue on her voyage forward as she turned and dug into the ground, pulling herself to a stop. Wade reappeared on top of her, swords drawn as he uttered a quick apology before driving one of them into the girl's back as she collapsed. Wade hopped off of her, landing right next to the girl before withdrawing the swords and leaning down to check on her.

"Please be normal, please be normal… …"

Wade tilted her head to check her breathing when the fallen girl opened her eyes, wound completely healed up. But they were not the emerald green that they were supposed to be, instead they were a dark brown, one that was particularly familiar to the swordsman.

"No, no, no, no, no!"

Three claws made of bone plunged through the skin on his abdomen and straight into soft tissue as Faith sat up, no sign whatsoever that she had suffered an injury that should have left her paralysed for life less than a minute ago. Wade doubled over, his body expelling a painful cough as Faith pulled the claws out, stained with his blood. She stood up over him and drew her other hand in before plunging it into _his _back as he fully collapsed on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Faith withdrew the claws into her knuckles and roughly grabbed Wade by his collar and pulled him up, altering her muscle mass as she easily lifted him over her head and tossed him halfway across the field as if he were a ragdoll. Wade hit the ground and rolled, groaning in pure and utter pain as he attempted to right himself. Panting, he forced himself onto his abused back and pulled out the gun he had nicked from its holster, firing three shots at Faith's head, some part of him hoping the trauma would erase Stryker's brain-washing. But the shots never got past the skin which was suddenly indestructible. Wade felt his jaw drop as he let his head fall back on the ground, letting off a long string of curses in all sorts of different languages. Faith was getting near now, her eyes returning to brown as she drew both sets of claws and struck downward, aiming to stake him. Wade drew the blades in his arms again and formed an X in front of him, blocking the attack as he cut outward, forcing Faith back a few paces and swiftly getting back up on his feet, his not entirely healed injury still giving him an incessant sting. Faith narrowed her eyes at him, charging forward once more as Wade fell into a spin, both his blades facing outwards and cutting his assailant. Faith flipped backwards away from the blades as the cuts closed themselves easily. Choosing to continue employing the claws, Faith charged at Wade again, jumping high into the air before she reached him and spinning vertically, both sets of claws pointed downward at Wade. The mercenary teleported out of the strike range and reappeared not far from where he would have been turned into minced meat. He swiftly drew his guns again. With Faith taking on Wolverine's powers, she would not be indestructible anymore, or so he hoped. He fired five shots his time, and true to his suspicion, the bullets tore through the skin easily. Faith clenched her teeth together, blocking out the pain as she pulled the claws back into her hands. She looked up at him and her eyes were emerald now. One by one, the bullets fell to the ground as she healed. There was a fire behind her eyes now, anger. But Wade was pleased, there was emotion now. With emotion, there was a reaction and if he could push her far enough, she may just snap out of it.

Faith glared at him as she slowly walked towards him. There was new determination now, and under that a certain degree of victory, as if she had figured it all out. Faith charged at him again, her eyes remaining green as her body shifted. A snout appeared, as rusty brown fur burst from her skin even as she grew in size, taking up her form of a wolf. She bore her teeth at him, growling before lunging at him. Wade flipped out of the way, teleporting and aiming for her back like he did so long ago. When he landed, he lifted both blades up in the air and prepared to plunge them into her spine. It seemed like Faith had already figured out his intentions as the smooth fur abruptly began to clump, joining together and changing in colour, forming hard, thick spikes that were similar to that of a thorny devil lizard. Wade's attempt in turn failed as he paused from the sudden appearance of the armour as Faith rolled sideways, throwing him off and onto the ground. The now spiky wolf stood up before him as it lunged again, seeming to never tire. Wade huffed and teleported out of the way, appearing behind the beast and running through ideas as to how to take it down. Then an idea struck him as he watched Faith turn back to look at him, growling and snarling.

"Here doggy! Over here!"

Wade clapped his hands together and waved at the canine, like a cape for a bull. Faith took off running toward him, preparing to clamp her jaws over him as she got closer. Then Wade grinned at the last minute and pulled out his gun, firing once into the wolf's open mouth before teleporting to avoid being run over when its momentum carried it forward. It plunged to the ground face first, and stopped moving. Wade put his hands on his knees, absolutely exhausted before walking up to the downed beast that was slowly turning back into Faith.

* * *

Wade walked up to her, kneeling down and checking for a pulse and breathing. For a moment, she simply lay on the ground, completely motionless before she stirred, sitting up slowly and blinking. Wade instinctively pulled back, caution overriding worry as the girl reached a hand up to cradle her head.

"Faith?"

Wade murmured, as if he were trying to ascertain which one he was talking to. There was no response, only a low moan of pain as the bio-kinetic brought her other hand up to her head as well. Wade leaned forward, reaching out to her. Then, Faith's hand shot out as she grabbed him, breaking the façade as her eyes narrowed. Wade immediately pulled his hand back, rolling out of the way before getting back up on his feet, his heart feeling heavier than ever. _What if she never turned back?_

Faith stood up now, speaking for the first time in what Wade felt was an eternity.

"Let's even the odds now, shall we?"

She smiled at him as she physically changed, no longer simply taking on the ability of her chosen mutant. But this was one change that Wade had seen a long time ago, made by none other than Voodoo. Hair pulled back into the scalp, skin grew paler, as markings appeared and tattooed them, eyelids withdrew and disappeared as scars appeared over her lips. Wade felt the air leave his body as he deflated, feeling as if a boulder had been dropped on him and left him with no will to keep fighting. _Deadpool_. The replica's eyes narrowed, empty, without life or a soul. Wade watched as a sudden thought struck him. She had turned into him. But yet, she had not. She was Deadpool now, Stryker's experiment and weapon, the mercenary that never failed, or rather was not supposed to have failed. But the Deadpool was dead, it had been defeated high up above in the tower by James and Victor. But in its death, Wade had been allowed to live. He watched it now, drawing the blades in its arms – made out of keratin – as it turned its head to one side. Wade attempted to draw his own blades but then paused when a sharp pain shot up both his arms. He frowned but before he could figure out what was wrong with him, Deadpool had lunged forward, both its blades going straight for the heart. Wade spun out of the way, and attempted to teleport to get behind it. But all he got back was an odd sensation going up his spine. Two and two clicked together, Faith had not grabbed him to get his biology; she had touched him before, she had grabbed him to disable his mutations.

Wade cursed.

Deadpool lunged, teleporting behind him and grabbing him before teleporting again up into the air, and kicking him in the gut, sending him back down to the earth. Wade hit the cement hard before clambering back up but his vision was not returning to normal and his skull had not started to heal. The string of swear words that came out of his mouth would have made his parents – if they had cared – cry. Wade stepped forward, feeling the ache in his muscles from the long drawn-out fight and the pain and blood that was slowly trickling down the back of his neck from the crash. His foot hit something hard and he pulled back, instinctively looking down. It was his katanas, when he had dropped them from before. Wade bent down and gingerly picked them up. The weapons were all too familiar to him; he had used them countless times before, to take the lives of others. But now, he would use them to save. Slinging the sheaths onto his back, Wade felt empowered, finding new hope and determination in this dire situation. He took a deep breath, hoping and praying that this one final adrenaline rush would be able to propel him through this fight. Deadpool landed lithely on its feet, hardly breaking a sweat. Wade walked forward and with each step, whether it may be due to the adrenaline overdrive that was now seeping into his system or sheer willpower, his vision steadied and he felt stronger, ready to fight the final fight. Deadpool watched him apprehensively then teleported out of sight. Wade huffed before instinctively swinging around to face his back and sure enough, Deadpool popped back into existence. The two clashed blades, one had power and strength on their side while the other had nothing but experience and pure stubbornness. Both made an X with their blades, cutting outward at one another as both of them flipped backwards. The next few minutes was a game of mirrors where one struck out and the other copied the motion to block it, perfectly synchronised with one another. Occasionally, Deadpool would teleport but every time, Wade was able to ether predict where he would appear or react quickly enough when he did. Every blow was met with a block and every strike was dodged, the two perfectly matched in both strength and skill.

Then, there was a groan.

Wade realised too late that he should have ignored the distraction but the brief moment it took him to turn just the slightest bit to the side and spy a stirring Emily did him in. Deadpool spun, stabbing one blade through Wade's right shoulder. The weapon tore through skin, tissue and muscle, emerging bloodied on the other side as Deadpool used the temporary advantage to force Wade onto the ground, raising its other blade and pointing it straight in Wade's face. The mercenary groaned, ignoring the pain as he tried to control his breathing. He had let the fight go on too long and the ache in his muscles was slowly sinking in. He twitched one of the fingers on his right hand, a small part of his mind telling him to check for nerve damage. The finger responded accordingly, albeit the pain that shot through his arm at the motion, and Wade thanked whatever greater power there was above for the small fortune. Emily was coming to, it was over. There was no way in hell that he would be able to take them both down in his current situation. Faith alone was difficult enough. The older Blackburn sat up, covering her head with both her hands as she groaned, stumbling as she struggled back up to her feet. She looked up at the confrontation, frowning.

"Wade?"

Wade felt like he could have cried from relief. The blow to the girl's head had woken her from her zombie state. Wade took one final breath, calming himself. It was all or nothing now. He raised his left hand, still clutching the blade tightly just as Deadpool attempted to strike, the blades meeting with a loud clang. Both pushed against one another and the new obstacle presented prompted Deadpool to withdraw its left hand, with the blade, out of Wade's shoulder to attempt to regain the upper hand. Wade reacted accordingly, bringing his severely injured arm up to match the blow as he yelled in response to the pain that shot through his entire body. Deadpool spun his wrist, allowing his blade to escape from the deadlock and hit Wade's right blade out of his hand before successfully disengaging his other hand as well. Bringing both blades up over his prey in a final attack, Deadpool attacked, aiming once more for the heart.

Then there was a bang.

The bullet embedded itself into Deadpool's head, barely visible now. It stood its ground for just a moment before falling backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Wade's hand was trembling, barely finding enough energy to keep the gun upright.

"I win."

As the adrenaline faded away and his hand dropped to the ground, Wade let out one long sigh, feeling the heaviness lift away from him. It was over. Wade grinned blearily to himself as his body crashed down on him. He could hear a voice – Emily most probably-, sounding far away and detached but he could barely be bothered anymore. Exhaustion overcame everything as Wade watched his vision fade out, his body coaxing him into the blessed bliss of darkness.

* * *

**Tell me what you think! :)**


	15. Epilogue: Happily Ever Afters

**A/N: So sorry for the long wait! Anyway, the end is here! :) This chapter is kind of short but I just wanted it to wrap everything up properly and try to keep new information to the minimum. :) Hope you guys have enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing and a HUGE thank you to all who have reviewed, favourited or followed this story, or who have simply taken the time out to read it from the start to the end. :)**

**To fandelivres: HAHA~ Sorry, I honestly did NOT intend to have left a cliffhanger there. ._. I just thought that if he had NOT passed out after all that crap, then it would make it seem kind of unrealistic since I was saying exactly HOW much he wanted to pass out LOL Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the reviewing! ^^ I can't say this enough but you're truly AWESOME!~ :D**

**Thank you to akagami hime chan for adding this story to your favourites list as well as following it! :)**

**A last great thank you to all the people who have read this as well as whoever else who may happen to stumble upon this in the future :) Hope you liked it :D**

_Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes._

* * *

**Epilogue: Happily Ever Afters**

He was running, carefully keeping his breathing under control as he crossed the length of the branch he was perched on, listening intently before leaping to a neighbouring branch, his feet touching down on the wood silently before he took off again. When he got to the bark of the tree he turned and leaned against it, the rough surface rubbing against the skin on his back even as he ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, his fingers catching beads of sweat. He chewed on his bottom lip, contemplating about his next course of action before he carefully stood down on his perch, listening and waiting. The large canine lumbered by, pausing to sniff the air. It gave an expression that was not that far off from a frown before plopping down on the ground to sit, rusty brown fur rustling from the sudden action. The large animal dipped its snout to the ground, looking for a scent trail to follow. It abruptly bounded up to a tree, standing on its hind legs to get as high up as possible. Only problem was, it was the wrong tree. Wade grinned, a great sense of victory rushing through him as he focused, teleporting onto the wolf's back silently. Over the last couple of months, he had mastered the art of popping in and out of existence without making the classic 'poof'. It had proved extremely useful so far. The wolf yelped, its ears perking up as its brick sized head turned back to look at its new passenger.

"Gotcha! See? I told you I was good!"

The canine rolled its eyes and turned its head to look at the ground pointedly. Wade had grown to understand Faith's animal gestures and now she was telling him to get off. Instead, Wade simply rolled onto his back to get comfortable, earning him a loud huff from his ride. The mercenary whistled a tune as Faith started walking.

"You know, I always knew that I'd be lying on top of you one day." Wade let the comment slip before he could stop himself as Faith, currently incapable of producing a more appropriate response, let out a horrified - or what sounded horrified anyway - yelp before pulling up onto her back legs in a horse maneuver to shake him off. Wade reacted immediately though, swinging around and grabbing the skin on the back of her neck. Faith yelped again before slamming back down onto all fours, a low growl emanating from her throat.

"Careful, careful! You almost threw me off! Okay fine, fine... I won't do that again. You know I can't help myself with the teasing."

Wade grinned as Faith stopped squirming, continuing to walk forward again though she was producing a long chain of low growls and soft barking as if she were talking to herself. Wade chuckled before resuming his joy ride on her back, whistling. It had been about three months since what was now referred by the pair as the 'Stryker Incident'. While it had taken a long and exhausting fight to bring the matter to an end, the entire thing did end up ending up on a fairly high note, other than the fact that the sisters – or rather just Faith really – convinced him not to kill the perpetrator.

* * *

_Wade groaned, coming back to the world of the living. He rubbed a hand over his face before pausing when he noted that the scars that he had grown used to were gone. The realisation sent a slight shock through him as he jerked upright from where he had been lying on the concrete ground._

"_Welcome back, sleepyhead."_

_Wade turned to look toward the source of the voice, his eyes meeting with Emily's who was sitting on the ground not too far away from him, completely back to normal._

"_You know, for a moment there, I couldn't recognise you. But Kim went ahead and did something to you and now I guess I'd say you look partially recognisable but still not acceptable."_

_Wade chuckled, blinking and noting the regeneration of his eyelids. It had been an inside joke of the team back then, when Emily had just joined them and the social hierarchy was being reshuffled. Apparently, she had been fairly persistent on either being on top of him or equal to him. The name pulled the brunette back to the forefront of his mind. The last he had seen of her, she had been hell bent on murdering him._

"_Where's Fai- I mean Kim?"_

_Emily allowed a crooked smile to rise to her lips as she looked at him apprehensively._

"_You can just call her 'Faith' you know. It __**is**__ her middle name. I just wasn't around when she started using it as her first." Emily paused to glare sharply at the mercenary before continuing on a more sour tone. "She went after Stryker, said she was going to make sure he never thought of repeating this again. She healed you up by the way, oh and she partially fixed the more permanent damage to your face as well, only partially though, not fully. Your face can never be fully fixed." Emily sent him an innocent glance before rising back up to her feet, looking back to the base where Wade was sure Faith must have returned to. Emily sighed, deep in thought._

"_I missed so much of her growing up. I always thought that with mum and dad gone, I would be the one to take care of her. But then, I left too and the poor girl had to fend for herself all these years. I should have been stronger." Emily's tone was taking on a more melancholy edge now as she gazed blankly at the building. Wade stood up, a sudden surge of guilt coming over him._

"_Hey… you know… about that…"_

_Emily smiled slightly though it did not reach her eyes._

"_Yeah, I know Wade."_

"_Tha- Thanks."_

_He was silently grateful for her understanding; it was never easy for people like him to express their feelings in the form of words. They were so used to shutting everything out. Emily turned back to face the building as the two lapsed into a heavy silence. He may have saved her from an eternity of slavery but the damage was already done - to all of them. Before things could get too awkward, with Wade using every bit of whatever tattered energy he had left to keep his mouth shut, Faith emerged from the smoking building, looking just as worn out as he was. She called out to both of them as they went forward to meet her. The sisters fell into a long hug, having have finally been reunited after so many years. Wade watched from the sidelines, feeling a load that he had not realised he had been carrying, leave him. After a while, they pulled apart and Wade found it appropriate to speak again._

"_So, what now?"_

_Faith turned to look at him as she responded._

"_I caught up with Stryker, made him – or rather his brain - forget about what happened. I don't know if he'll ever walk down that path again, but he should not remember anything."_

_Faith was giving Wade a pointed look. The message behind it was clear though. Honestly, Wade wanted very much to go in there and kill Stryker for all of their sakes but he figured all three of them probably had enough killing for a lifetime and so did not bring it up. After all, if there was anyone that Stryker owed the most debt and blood to, it was the two of them and if they were going to let him off the hook, he guessed he did not really have the right to deny them that. But if he happened to see the Colonel on the street one day, then let's just say there's no good in going against destiny. Emily pulled him out of his reverie, speaking up now._

"_I think I'll just head my own way then."_

_Faith looked up at her older sister, her shock blatant on her face._

"_But… … why?"_

_Emily smiled down at her, her eyes tired and almost old._

"_You're all grown up now Kim. And I think I need to find my own way too. No worries though, you'll see me again. I'm not about to leave you with this psycho maniac am I? After all, I don't trust him."_

_Emily narrowed her eyes in a faux threat at Wade who had brought his hand up to his heart in mock hurt._

"_You wound me Em. And after everything we've gone through together."_

_Emily snickered, rolling her eyes at him._

"_I'm serious Wilson. I don't trust you but I can't deny that you seem to actually, genuinely, I-hope-the-world-does-not-end-because-of-this sincerely, care for my sister. So I'm going to leave you be for now. But don't think I'll just leave you. I'm going to come back and kick your ass someday if anything happens to her, or just for old time's sake."_

_Wade grinned at her, his gaze totally serious before she granted him a small smile back. Then, with that established, she simply turns around and heads off, sparing one final glance and wave at the two of them. But just before her figure disappears from their field of vision, she turns back around fully and Wade felt the gravitational field around him increase by just the slightest bit. He looked down onto the ground and etched there was a short string of words. __**Thanks, for taking care of her.**__ The older Blackburn had most likely carved it out while he was out cold. Wade smiled at the message and looked up, but Emily was already gone. Faith did not seem to notice his brief distraction._

_"You think I'll really see her again?"_

_"Knowing your sister, it'll be a wonder if we don't see her tomorrow. I'd put my money on 'by next week'. Maximum."_

_Faith cracked a smile, still looking at where the figure of her older sister had disappeared._

_"Yeah... I guess so. You do know her pretty well, don't you?"_

_Wade put on a more serious expression, thinking back to the time before this whole mess._

_"Well actually, we tried, like really, genuinely tried, to kill each other. But if you ignore the bombardment of threats to end the other person in a long and excruciating way, I guess you could say we got along pretty okay."_

_Faith could not help but chuckle slightly at that._

_"So you guys just spent all day fighting?"_

_Wade frowned, as if he were considering the question with a lot of effort._

_"Well... ... No, no. Most of all threats were exchanged during the period it took for us to get the crappy coffee they had at base. Other than that, we were pretty civil. Oh, but you should have seen what happened when I started calling her 'Em'. It was hilarious... and quite painful, but mostly just hilarious."_

_Faith grinned at him, nodding slightly. Her sister was always like that. To everyone but her anyway, but she had witnessed it enough times to know it was a character trait._

_"We should go."_

_Wade abruptly piped up. He turned to look at her properly and held out his hand to her. Faith smiled before taking up the offer. _

_"So, where to?"_

_"Home."_

_"Home it is then."_

_Wade grinned before the two disappeared into a cloud of red smoke._

* * *

In the end, Wade was right. It had taken Emily exactly three days, five hours, twenty-seven minutes and fifteen seconds (they were counting) to show up on their doorstep. The older Blackburn looked a lot better than when they had last seen her and there was new spirit in her eyes. While she did try to be more civil with Wade, the snarky comments and sarcastic remarks were still fired back and forth but in the end, everyone simply burst out laughing. Emily ended up staying the night where the trio talked about everything and anything, before catching a quick nap and leaving the next day. The timer had been started again and they were now patiently waiting for her next visit (they had a running bet on how long it would take). Over the next few days, Faith had been dutifully helping to fix Wade's biology as well, removing the evidence of the surgery he had so long ago.

The events of this particular day had been brought about when Wade had asked Faith how she was able to take up specific things about the person she was copying while they were chewing on some sandwiches and watching some movie about some guy called Luke Skywalker, a man whose voice kept echoing whenever he spoke and swords that _glowed,_ the efficiency of which Wade had been downplaying for the past hour. She had considered something for a while before pulling apart and reshuffling the ingredients of both their sandwiches and then holding her creations to him demonstratively.

"Gene splicing. And now you know why I went to Medical School."

After that, the topic had somehow been turned to how acute their senses could be before shifting to tracking and landing both of them outside in the woods attempting to prove that they could hunt down or evade the other. But of course, Wade knew how to avoid getting his scent picked up so in the end, experience trumps all.

And this was why the pair was now strolling - in Faith's case anyway - back to the house. Wade continued with his off-key tune, Faith continued piggy-backing him and occasionally try to throw him off and they were simply enjoying the little parts of life that made it worth living, bickering about it all the way. Maybe one day they would face a new threat, war against a new enemy or have to leap over a new hurdle. But till then, and even through whatever trials the world may bring, they had each other and right now, that was all that mattered.

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**Tell me what you think! :)**


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